Tip-offs
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Each week, we surface promising startups & founders through data signals.
This week, we're spotlighting startups securing AI agents →
When agents become employees
Who's keeping them in check?
Every AI agent you deploy is a new employee with a login and no manager.
KPMG reports that non-human identities already outnumber people 80 to 1 inside most companies, yet 86% of security leaders admit they do not enforce access rules for their AI identities. This security gap is why "Agent Zero Trust" is suddenly everywhere, with Google DeepMind and Anthropic both publishing frameworks that treat agents as potential insider threats.
The worry is near-universal: 92% of executives named managing AI agents as the top security skill they will need next. Nearly 70% of enterprises now run agents live, and 88% have already had a security incident tied to one this year. Now the question is, who secures them, and secures them well.
AI Agent Security Startups
Recently funded startups building identity, guardrails, and runtime monitoring for AI agents. Ranked by website visit growth over the past 3 months.
Verno Labs | 1260% growth in 3 months
An enterprise security platform that protects AI agents across their lifecycle, pairing vulnerability discovery with runtime enforcement for agents running in business-critical systems. Raised a $1.6M Pre-Seed in Jan 2026.
London, UK
Silmaril | 710% growth in 3 months
A security layer purpose-built for AI stacks, detecting & neutralizing threats against the models & agents. Raised a $500K Pre-Seed in June 2026.
San Francisco, US
Trent AI | 269% growth in 3 months
Security for agentic software that makes products secure and compliant by design, with protection applied automatically as they are built. Raised a $12.7M Seed in April 2026.
London, UK
Manifold Security | 256% growth in 3 months
A security platform for AI agents that delivers full runtime visibility, flags risky agent behavior, and responds to agent threats across an organization's infrastructure. Raised an $8M Seed in March 2026.
San Diego, US
Evoke Security | 222% growth in 3 months
An AI-powered platform that discovers, monitors, and defends against agentic security risks as enterprises roll out AI. Raised a $4M Pre-Seed in Feb 2026.
Washington, US
AI Agent Security Founders
Recently funded founders building identity, guardrails, and runtime monitoring for AI agents.
Kevin Mandia
Ex-U.S. Air Force agent, FireEye CEO. Founded Mandiant (sold to Google for $5.4B in 2022). Now founder and CEO of Armadin, an autonomous AI agent security platform. Raised $189.9M Seed + Series A in Mar 2026.
Redwood City, US
Nick Warner
COO of SentinelOne through its $10B IPO. Ex- Sr. Director of McAfee (Advanced Tech). Now co-founder and CEO of Neo, a real-time control layer for agentic enterprise software. Raised $100M across seed and Series A in Jul 2026.
Boston, US
Shai Morag
Sold Integrity-Project (Mellanox/NVIDIA), Secdo (Palo Alto Networks), and Ermetic (Tenable). Now co-founder & CEO of Oak, an AI-native identity operating system for human, machine, and agent identities. Raised $60M seed in Jul 2026.
Tel Aviv, Israel
Shachar Hirshberg
Built security operations at Palo Alto Networks and Demisto, then led AWS GuardDuty. Now co-founder and CEO of Artemis Security, rebuilding the SOC for machine-speed, AI-powered attacks. Raised $70M Seed + Series A in Apr 2026.
New York, US
Gal Tal-Hochberg
Co-founded HiredScore (acquired by Workday for $520M), then Group CTO at Team8. Now co-founder and CEO of Beacon Security, a trusted data layer powering AI cyber-defense agents. Raised $13M Seed in July 2026.
New York, US
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