Protect AI, a startup focused on enhancing AI system security, has successfully raised $35 million in a Series A funding round, with Evolution Equity Partners leading the investment and participation from Salesforce Ventures, Acrew Capital, boldstart ventures, Knollwood Capital, and Pelion Ventures.
This latest funding exceeds twice the size of Protect AI’s previous seed round, bringing their total raised capital to $48.5 million. The company’s co-founder and CEO, Ian Swanson, revealed plans to utilize the proceeds for improving the platform’s capabilities, expanding research efforts, and initiating new open-source projects.
Protect AI’s flagship tool, AI Radar, offers comprehensive visibility into the components of AI models, enabling the identification and remediation of potential AI security vulnerabilities.
Swanson, together with co-founder Daryan Dehghanpisheh, established Protect AI in 2022, leveraging their experience from significant machine learning and AI deployments.
Their mission is to create a safer AI-powered world as AI gains broader adoption in sensitive sectors like finance and healthcare. Despite the current lack of evidence showing mass-scale AI model attacks, Protect AI aims to address AI security weak points through AI Radar’s practical threat detection in the AI and machine learning supply chain. The tool scans machine learning bill of materials for vulnerabilities and risks, ensuring safer AI operations within enterprises.
While Protect AI faces competitors like Resistant AI and HiddenLayer in the growing space of AI-defending security tools, the startup has already secured high-profile customers across financial services, healthcare, life sciences, and energy industries, indicating its niche in the market.
