The 10 Hottest Cybersecurity Startups Of 2025

We’ve selected 10 cybersecurity startups that have been on our radar this year, with new approaches in key categories such as AI security and agentic-powered cyber defense.

Hot Startups To Know

For cybersecurity startups in 2025, the emergence of AI and agentic have rapidly come to dominate—though there are plenty of signs that it’s not just marketing hype. Beyond the massive funding rounds for many startups offering AI-powered security tools—as well as new products for protecting the AI usage itself—a steady drumbeat of acquisitions in the space by major cybersecurity vendors has provided further validation.

Key focus areas for up-and-coming players in cybersecurity include applying AI agents directly inside core security and development workflows—with the aim of autonomously handling SOC (Security Operations Center) tasks such as alert triage and remediation. Others are focused on the emerging threat from GenAI and agents tools themselves, with capabilities for improved discovery of agents and models, access governance, identity enforcement and data controls.

For CRN’s Year in Review coverage, we’ve selected 10 cybersecurity startups that have been on our radar this year thanks to their new approaches within key categories. In terms of specific criteria for this list, we’ve chosen from among cybersecurity startups that have raised a significant seed, Series A or Series B funding round since the beginning of 2025. In addition, the companies must have recently launched new products in fast-growing security segments or unveiled major channel-related moves.

What follows are the key details on 10 of the hottest cybersecurity startups of 2025.

7AI

Founded: 2024

CEO: Lior Div

7AI delivers a platform that deploys autonomous AI agents to handle critical “non-human” security operations tasks such as alert triage, investigations and incident response, according to the company. The agents leverage dynamic reasoning capabilities in order to adapt to various scenarios and eliminate false positives—ultimately enabling faster responses within security operations. In August, the startup announced a partnership with technology services provider giant DXC that combines DXC’s security operations capabilities with autonomous AI agents from 7AI. Then in December, 7AI announced raising $130 million in Series A funding led by Index Ventures, which brought with it a $700 million valuation.

Clover Security

Founded: 2023

CEO: Alon Kollmann

Clover Security aims to stand out in providing a better approach to securing the software development process, through using AI to proactively detect security flaws in software design. The startup offers AI agents that can be embedded within platforms such as Confluence, Jira, GitHub and Cursor, which “replicate the thinking of experienced security engineers,” Clover said in a news release. The result is that the Clover agents can understand the behavior of the systems behave and anticipate potential security flaws—ultimately providing real-time security feedback within normal workflows to developers while eliminating repetitive work for security teams. In November, Clover Security announced it had raised a funding round of $36 million led by Notable Capital and Team8, with other investors including Wiz co-founder and CEO Assaf Rappaport, Wiz co-founder Yinon Costica and Cato Networks co-founder and CEO Shlomo Kramer.

Cynomi

Founded: 2020

CEO: David Primor

Cynomi provides an automated vCISO platform that aims to offer equivalent capabilities to a governance, risk and compliance (GRC) tool while also going further by conducting gap analysis, creating customized policies and developing a prioritized remediation plan to ensure that cybersecurity is addressed as well. The MSP-focused platform is tailored toward securing small and midsize enterprises, according to the company. In April, Cynomi announced raising $37 million in Series B funding co-led by Insight Partners and Entrée Capital.

Descope

Founded: 2022

CEO: Slavik Markovich

Descope is seeking to become a go-to agentic identity provider for the era of AI agents, according to the startup. In August, Descope debuted its Agentic Identity Control Plane, with capabilities that can enable the deployment of policy-based governance, identity management and auditing for AI agents and Model Context Protocol systems, the company said. Descope also announced in September that it had added $35 million in new funding, closing its seed round at a total of $88 million.

Mitiga

Founded: 2019

CEO: Charlie Thomas

Mitiga offers a cloud and SaaS security platform focused on threat detection as well as threat investigation and response. The “zero-impact breach prevention” technology ultimately enables customers to address cloud and SaaS threats dramatically faster than standard approaches, the company said. In January, Mitiga announced closing a $30 million Series B round of funding led by Syn Ventures. Then in February, the startup announced the hire of Charlie Thomas, formerly the longtime CEO of channel-focused managed security platform vendor Deepwatch, as its new chief executive.

Noma Security

Founded: 2023

CEO: Niv Braun

Noma Security offers a platform for controlling AI and agentic risk with a major focus on providing continuous discovery for AI assets and agents. The platform provides a full AI inventory through automatically discovering where AI applications and agents are being built, as well as determining which data and systems they can access, according to the startup. Other key capabilities include AI security posture management and risk prioritization as well as AI runtime protection, the company said. In July, Noma Security raised $100 million in a Series B round of funding led by Evolution Equity Partners.

Orchid Security

Founded: 2024

CEO: Roy Katmor

Orchid Security offers technology that aims to accelerate the deployment of identity security tools through an orchestration platform powered in part by LLMs. The startup’s offering—which can also reduce the cost of utilizing identity and access management—ultimately serves to secure highly complex identity environments for the enterprise, Orchid said. In January, the startup announced raising $36 million in seed funding led by Team8 and Intel Capital. Then in April, Orchid Security announced the hire of Trish Cagliostro, formerly the vice president of channels and alliances at Wiz, as its CRO as the startup pursues a channel-focused growth strategy.

Seemplicity

Founded: 2020

CEO: Yoran Sirkis

Seemplicity offers an AI-powered exposure management platform that brings together findings across security domains into a centralized view, providing automation for remediation workflows, according to the startup. The company’s technology aims to streamline prioritization and escalation of exposure management risks, ultimately enabling dramatically reduced time to remediation, Seemplicity said. In August, Seemplicity announced raising $50 million in a Series B funding round led by Sienna Venture Capital.

Sentra

Founded: 2021

CEO: Yoav Regev

Sentra provides a cloud-native data security platform that aims to offer improved capabilities for scanning, classification and data privacy, ultimately providing greater automation for detection of risks involving data security and privacy. In April, the startup announced raising $50 million in Series B funding led by Key1 Capital. And at RSAC 2025 in May, Sentra debuted its Data Security for AI Agents offering, providing capabilities such as automated discovery and identification of AI agents as well as agentic models.

Sweet Security

Founded: 2023

CEO: Dror Kashti

Sweet Security aims to stand out in CNAPP (cloud-native application protection platform) and AI security with its platform that brings together runtime context with “advanced” AI intelligence, according to the startup. Key capabilities include the company’s AI Security Platform that provides discovery for all models and agents, allowing organizations to “understand how they interact and identify misconfigurations or over-permissioned access before they create risk,” Sweet Security said in a news release. In November, the startup announced raising a $75 million Series B funding round led by Evolution Equity Partners.