HiddenLayer, a security provider for AI models and assets, has successfully raised a staggering $50m in a Series A funding round.
This investment milestone is particularly significant as it stands as the largest Series A funding amassed by any cybersecurity firm focusing on AI protection this year.
The round was impressively led by M12, Microsoft’s Venture Fund, and Moore Strategic Ventures. Other prominent names joining the investment rally include Booz Allen Ventures, IBM Ventures, Capital One Ventures, and Ten Eleven Ventures.
Born out of stealth mode in July 2022, HiddenLayer has shown an impressive trajectory by establishing key industry alliances with tech giants like Intel and Databricks. This coupled with its esteemed recognition such as the Most Innovative Startup at RSAC and Most Promising Early-Stage Startup by SC Media. Today, HiddenLayer champions the cause of defending AI models for the world’s Fortune 100 companies spanning sectors from finance to cybersecurity and even government defence.
The fresh injection of funds is earmarked for scaling their mission further. CEO and Co-Founder at HiddenLayer, Chris Sestito elaborated on their commitment, “AI’s unparalleled rate of adoption fuels us to move even faster in achieving our mission to give every organisation the right tools and expertise to leverage AI securely. We’re committed to creating the most frictionless security solutions on the market to satisfy this unmet need.”
Further underlining the importance of AI and ML security, a commissioned research from Forrester highlighted that a whopping 96% of organisations deem machine learning vital. However, there’s a pressing concern as most still rely on manual procedures to mitigate ML model threats.
The cutting-edge MLSec Platform by HiddenLayer offers a diverse range of products aimed at fortifying AI against potential vulnerabilities, adversarial attacks and more. Among its offerings, the standout is the Machine Learning Detection and Response (MLDR) product. It monitors AI algorithms ensuring real-time defence, offering multiple response options from alerting to misleading.
Sharing his excitement about the partnership, Todd Graham, Managing Partner at M12, Microsoft’s Venture Fund, shared, “Inspired by their own experience with an adversarial AI attack, HiddenLayer’s founders built an essential platform for any enterprise working with AI and ML. From the moment we met the founders, we knew this was a big idea in security and wanted to help them scale.”
Further adding weight to the collaboration, Travis Bales, Managing Director at Booz Allen Ventures remarked, “HiddenLayer’s powerful platform and expert team has proven effective in securing AI from a broad range of threats. It was clear to us that the HiddenLayer team has the vision and execution to continue developing security for the emerging AI market.”
In terms of past achievements, it’s worth noting that HiddenLayer has witnessed a remarkable growth, quadrupling its team size within a year. The company anticipates adding 40 more experts to its roster by year’s end.
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