Echo Buys Minimus After Container Defense Startup Winds Down

Application Security
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Cloud Security
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Next-Generation Technologies & Secure Development

Echo Says Minimus Acquisition Expands Support for Different Container Approaches

Michael Novinson (MichaelNovinson) •
August 27, 2026    

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Baton Rouge, Louisiana-based Minimus developed a different “flavor” to securing container images and integrating multiple scanners, which will give New York-based Echo more ways to support clients with different technical requirements, according to co-founder and CEO Eilon Elhadad. Adding Minimus’ approach broadens the choices available to customers while allowing Echo to focus on implementation.

“The main reason Echo was very successful until today is because our integration for engineers was zero time to value, and now it will be even stronger as we are taking Minimus’ approach and adding Minimus’ approach to our basket of options for the customer,” Elhadad told ISMG.

Minimus, founded in 2022, employs 73 people and tapped YL Ventures and Mayfield to lead its $51 million seed funding round in May 2025. The company has been led by Ben Bernstein, who previously established container security startup Twistlock in 2015 and sold it to Palo Alto Networks in July 2019 for $378.1 million. Bernstein then oversaw products and engineering for Palo Alto before exiting in 2020 (see: Minimus Launches With $51M to Tackle Application Protection).

How Echo, Minimus Approaches to Container Security Differ

The company on Monday announced plans to end operations on Oct. 22, saying “the current business and investment climate has resulted in a situation in which we are unable to continue operations.” After the shutdown announcement, Echo finalized plans to buy Minimus’ technology and customer contracts. Elhadad said he’s open to having Minimus employees join Echo, though that isn’t written into the deal (see: Echo Secures $35M to Tackle Cloud Vulnerabilities With AI).

“We are buying all of the assets,” Elhadad said. “That means the IP, the technology, the customers, the data, everything. Because it’s happened in a really short time period, we didn’t finish all of the processes. We are happy to get many of Minimus’s employees. It depends who wants to join and who would be a great fit. But we are completely open to that also.”

Echo’s technology closely follows the foundations used by much of the open-source ecosystem, which Elhadad said makes it particularly compatible with large enterprises, while Minimus’ technology requires more technical work but offers another way to minimize attack surface. This approach appeals to small firms that want to pursue minimal container environments before moving to a commercial solution.

“You should be very aggressive in the cybersecurity market,” Elhadad said. “The companies that survive and build great companies and big companies are the ones that are running fast enough.”

Elhadad said about 90% of open-source images are built on foundations similar to Echo’s and about 10% follow foundations closer to the Minimus approach. Echo already addressed the dominant approach, while Minimus fills what Elhadad characterized as a missing piece. Combining the two gives Echo a way to support organizations regardless of which of those container image approaches they have adopted.

“There are the remaining 10% that are built on something that is like Minimus, and that’s allowing us now to give this piece also to those that decided to adopt that approach,” Elhadad said. “It’s just two different approaches. That one of them was more successful because of many reasons: more stable, more compatible, more safe to organizations.”

How Echo Plans to Incorporate Minimus Platform

Many infrastructure security products fail to achieve complete adoption because implementation is too difficult, he said. Echo tries to address that problem by closely matching the environments enterprises already use. In Elhadad’s view, a security product capable of achieving broad deployment can provide stronger protection even when competing products promise a similar vulnerability outcome.

“Even if both of us are providing zero CVE, you will be more protected in a place where you will be able to fully roll out,” Elhadad said. “Because we are capable of fully rolling out in an organization, that’s why the protection is stronger.”

Echo does not plan to force existing Minimus customers into an immediate migration. Over time, Echo plans to bring Minimus’ core container images into the Echo catalog, meaning customers would be able to access both the Echo and Minimus approaches. Although that appears to be a catalog consolidation, Elhadad said completing the underlying technical integration will require significant engineering work.

“In the long term, we will add the Minimus catalog to the Echo catalog, and customers that want to enjoy both worlds can keep using Echo,” Elhadad said. “The idea is to take their core main container images that they built and add them to the Echo catalog.”

Echo will continue developing both platforms initially rather than immediately ending R&D for Minimus, though Elhadad said a future migration to Echo remains possible if Minimus customers indicate that they prefer that path. Maintaining two platforms will require additional engineering resources, and he said bringing Minimus employees into Echo can help maintain and integrate the acquired technology.

“It’s allowing Echo to provide the security team a much easier life with engineers,” Elhadad said. “They don’t need to choose any flavor. They can just use now the Echo agnostic platform with the Minimus edition, and that’s faster adoption, allowing them to prove the value to the organization and to be much more secure.”