AIR Security launches with $50M to build firewall for AI agents

AI agent security startup AIR Security has launched with $50m in funding to build an inline firewall for AI agents. The platform sits in the path between agents and the third-party skills, plugins and Model Context Protocol servers they reach for, screening instructions, tools and data before the agent acts on them.

AIR’s software first maps the agents running across endpoints, cloud accounts and SaaS applications, then continuously re-checks the components those agents depend on. Untrusted tools and injected instructions are blocked at runtime, and the company also runs a marketplace of add-ons it has already cleared.

Company research found more than 17,800 public AI add-ons with 6.7 million installations drawing instructions from unverified outside sources, and turned up AI skills impersonating Anthropic and OpenAI that could run arbitrary code once installed. Roughly 27% of add-ons and skills AIR finds online get filtered out.

More than 20 companies use the platform, about a quarter of them large enterprises, with the strongest demand from financial services and pharmaceutical firms. The company was founded by Yair Saban and Niv Hoffman, both veterans of Israeli military intelligence unit 8200, and employs about 40 people.

The $50m came in two rounds: $10m led by Sequoia Capital and $40m led by Greenoaks Capital Partners, with Swish Ventures and Netz Capital also investing. Angel backers include Wiz co-founder Yinon Costica and former White House deputy national security adviser Anne Neuberger. AIR is based in New York and will use the funds for hiring and sales expansion in the US and Europe.