Technology
HiddenLayer secures $100 million in Series B funding to expand AI defense tools
The cybersecurity startup plans international expansion and product development as enterprise demand for artificial intelligence protections increases.
The short version
- Austin-based cybersecurity firm HiddenLayer closed a $100 million Series B investment round led by Delta-v Capital.
- The startup develops software designed to protect artificial intelligence models and agents against adversarial threats, malicious code injections, and prompt manipulation.
- HiddenLayer plans to use the capital to scale sales, research, and engineering, alongside expanding operations across Europe and the Middle East.
- The company faces growing competition from established cybersecurity vendors and emerging startups, as well as the risk that major platform providers might bundle similar protections into base AI infrastructure.
Key facts
- Delta-v Capital led HiddenLayer's $100 million Series B funding round, with participation from Ten Eleven Ventures, Morgan Stanley, Microsoft's M12, and Booz Allen Hamilton.[TechCrunch]
- HiddenLayer co-founder and CEO Chris Sestito stated that the company's annual recurring revenue reached the tens of millions of dollars after growing more than tenfold over the past year.[TechCrunch]
- The company's primary client base includes financial services firms, large technology companies, and U.S. defense and intelligence agencies.[TechCrunch]
- Gartner projects enterprise spending on artificial intelligence security tools will reach $2.83 billion this year and expand to nearly $4.78 billion next year.[TechCrunch]
What remains uncertain
- The extent to which major cloud and foundation model providers like Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, or OpenAI will build competing AI security tools directly into their platforms remains undetermined.[TechCrunch]
- Exact financial figures were not disclosed, as the company declined to release specific revenue amounts beyond general ARR estimates.[TechCrunch]