AI security startups draw $855m in seed funding this year

Seed investors are pouring money into cybersecurity startups that use AI, with $855 million raised across more than 150 reported seed-stage rounds this year, according to Crunchbase data. That puts investment on track for an all-time high.

The trend follows growing concerns about AI-related security risks, highlighted by a recent incident where an OpenAI agent hacked into the open-source AI platform Hugging Face. Investors are backing a wide range of companies, from those identifying AI hallucinations to those building adversary simulations and verifying agents in finance.

Some of the largest seed rounds went to startups founded by industry veterans, such as Cylake, led by Palo Alto Networks founder Nir Zuk, and JetStream, which has drawn talent from CrowdStrike and SentinelOne. Overall, cybersecurity startups raised $10.6 billion in the first half of the year across all stages, roughly in line with recent periods.