Key facts
- AI security startup AIR has raised $50 million in seed funding across two rounds.
- The company's platform vets skills, tools, and components used by AI agents to prevent security risks.
- AIR was founded by former Israeli intelligence officers Yair Saban and Niv Hoffman.
- The funding will be used to hire researchers and expand the company's market reach.
- AIR claims to have over 20 customers, including large enterprises in regulated industries.
AIR, an AI security startup, has secured $50 million in seed funding across two rounds to develop a platform designed to secure the emerging software supply chain for AI agents. The company aims to provide businesses with tools to discover AI agents, continuously vet the skills, plugins, and add-ons they use, and block those that do not meet security criteria.
Founded by Yair Saban (CEO) and Niv Hoffman (CTO), who have backgrounds in offensive cybersecurity from Israel's Unit 8200 intelligence corps, AIR's platform offers a visibility product to identify agents and unapproved AI tool usage within a company. It also includes an enforcement layer to intercept and analyze agent actions and a whitelist of vetted components.
The funding comprises a $10 million initial round led by Sequoia and a subsequent $40 million round led by Greenoaks. AIR's pitch emphasizes the growing risk of attackers poisoning the data AI agents consume, drawing parallels to the evolution of driver security in operating systems. The company argues that current oversight for AI agent tools lags behind traditional software.
AIR reports having over 20 customers, with significant interest from heavily regulated sectors like financial services and pharmaceuticals. The startup faces competition from companies such as Noma Security, Zenity, Astrix Security, and Operant AI, which also offer solutions for AI agent security and governance. AIR differentiates itself by focusing on the continuous vetting of the AI skills and add-ons ecosystem.
The company plans to utilize the new capital to hire researchers and expand its go-to-market strategies in the U.S. and Europe. AIR currently employs around 40 people.