The 10 Hottest Cybersecurity Startups Of 2026 (So Far)

We’ve selected 10 cybersecurity startups that have been on our radar during the first half of this year, with differentiated approaches in fast-growing segments such as agentic-driven security operations, identity protection and AI security.

Cybersecurity Startups To Watch

With LLM-powered technologies continuing to shake up the business world, demand from customers is surging for new tools in key emerging categories from agentic-driven security operations and AI security to non-human identity protection and advanced cloud security. The growth is delivering massive opportunities for solution providers not just in working with large, established players, but also in partnering with newer, highly promising startups.

Notably, many of these startups are also standing out in the crowded field by bringing an early emphasis on channel partnerships and launching formal partner programs.

Without a doubt, working with emerging security vendors can provide a hugely valuable way to open doors with customers, according to Cesar Enciso, founder and CEO of San Diego-based Evotek, No. 97 on CRN’s Solution Provider 500 for 2026.

When it comes to large customers, for instance, many are less receptive to having conversations about established vendors—but they are often more open to engaging around emerging technologies that could reshape the industry, Enciso said. “And then once we get in with that emerging tech, maybe a year from now they're like, ‘Hey, there's so much value that you provided on that [deal], do you mind if we buy Cisco from you?’” he said. “It drags so much [in terms of] my other solutions. So it's always been our playbook.”

As part of CRN’s midyear 2026 coverage, we’ve selected 10 cybersecurity startups that have been on our radar during the first six months of the year—through launching innovative new products in key security segments, unveiling major channel-related moves or raising significant new rounds of funding.

What follows are the details on 10 of the hottest cybersecurity startups of 2026 so far.

7AI

Founded: 2024

CEO: Lior Div

7AI is aiming to build on the massive momentum with partners and customers for its AI-powered security investigations to offer a complete agentic AI platform for the Security Operations Center (SOC), according to Div. The startup is rapidly expanding its agentic product offerings into a platform providing a “full operating system” for the modern SOC, he told CRN. The ultimate goal is to reimagine the way that SOC teams work to take full advantage of agentic capabilities and move faster, he said. That will include SIEM (security information and event management), SOAR (security orchestration automation and response), autonomous threat hunting and other key capabilities, according to Div. The platform expansion follows the $130 million Series A funding round raised by the company in December, which was led by Index Ventures.

Armadin

Founded: 2025

CEO: Kevin Mandia

Armadin offers a platform featuring an autonomous “agentic attacker swarm” that aims to test and strengthen cyber defenses against AI-powered attacks. The company’s platform is designed to simulate how real attackers operate, through continuously reasoning planning and adapting, according to Armadin. The goal is to “provide CEOs and boards with decision-grade proof of what can actually be exploited,” the company said in a news release. Led by Mandiant founder Kevin Mandia, Armadin announced in March that it has raised $189.9 million in seed and Series A funding led by Accel.

Dropzone AI

Founded: 2023

CEO: Edward Wu

Dropzone AI offers a fully AI-powered approach to dealing with alert overload in the SOC (Security Operations Center)—delivering improved security outcomes without human analysts, Wu told CRN. Dropzone’s biggest differentiator is providing a “software-only” approach to addressing alerts with its AI SOC Analyst platform, according to Wu. This offers substantially improved consistency, scalability and transparency compared with human‑dependent methods, he said. Notably, Dropzone AI has focused heavily on channel partnerships, including with MSSPs and VARs, according to Head of Channel Shashi Nair.

Guardz

Founded: 2022

CEO: Dor Eisner

Guardz offers a unified cybersecurity platform built specifically with the needs of MSPs in mind, with a focus on helping to protect SMBs, according to Eisner. The startup’s platform brings together security controls across identities, email, devices data and more—and includes deployment of a correlation engine to connect signals across those areas for detection and response, he told CRN. The company’s MSP-focused approach is a major differentiator, Eisner said, with the platform designed from the ground up for providers of managed services. In particular, one of the biggest problems faced by MSPs that Guardz is seeking to solve is that many are managing security through disconnected point products, he said.

Noma Security

Founded: 2023

CEO: Niv Braun

Noma Security offers what it calls a “unified” AI agent security platform, with capabilities for continuous discovery, governance and protection of AI 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 company. Other key capabilities include AI security posture management and risk prioritization as well as AI runtime protection, Noma said. In February, Noma Security announced the hire of channel veteran Ted Plumis as its vice president of global channel and alliances to accelerate the startup’s expansion with solution and service provider partners.

Oasis Security

Founded: 2022

CEO: Danny Brickman

Oasis Security is focusing aggressively on partner-driven growth amid massive opportunities in non-human identity security, spurred by the rapid adoption of AI agents, according to the company. The startup disclosed that it is finding major growth with its capabilities for discovering and securing non-human identities, including those created by AI agents, and is seeking to accelerate its expansion through the channel. In March, Oasis announced raising a $120 million Series B funding round led by Craft Ventures, bringing the company to a total of $195 million in funding since its launch in 2022. Then in April, the company unveiled its new channel program under the leadership of Sam Hahm, Americas channel and alliances leader at Oasis Security.

Operant AI

Founded: 2021

CEO: Vrajesh Bhavsar

In March, Operant AI debuted an initiative aimed at enabling security for AI and agents to be embedded directly within AI inference infrastructure. The initiative, the AI Infrastructure Ecosystem Partnership Program, will involve working with top AI infrastructure companies to embed Operant’s runtime defense capabilities for AI and agentic “directly into the inference stack,” the startup said in a news release. The move follows the launch of Operant AI’s Channel Partner Program in February, focused on enabling VAR partners to provide advanced security for AI and agents to customers. The program is led by Katherine Mills, a channel veteran and head of channel partners at Operant AI.

Sublime Security

Founded: 2019

CEO: Josh Kamdjou

Sublime Security offers an agentic email security platform that utilizes AI agents to automate threat triaging and rapidly deploy updated defenses for inboxes. The startup’s AI agents include an Autonomous Security Analyst, which provides automated investigation and triaging for email threats. The platform also offers an Autonomous Detection Engineer agent, which can provide tailored defense capabilities for protecting against previously unknown email threats, according to Sublime. In April, Sublime Security announced its first formal channel program as the startup seeks to accelerate the growth of its agentic email security platform with the help of solution and service provider partners, according to Channel Chief Timm Hoyt.

Tenex.AI

Founded: 2025

CEO: Eric Foster

Tenex.AI offers an MDR (managed detection and response) service that utilizes AI-powered capabilities for triage and investigation as well as threat hunting and response. Key differentiators include being able to combine AI-native automation with a managed services model, according to the company. The result is that Tenex.AI is able to deliver “100 percent alert coverage, with human analysts governing every decision and accountable for every outcome,” the startup said in a news release. In March, the company announced raising a $250 million Series B funding round led by Crosspoint Capital Partners.

Upwind

Founded: 2022

CEO: Amiram Shachar

Upwind offers a comprehensive runtime cloud security platform, including a specialized sensor that provides visibility into workloads, configurations and applications in real time, according to the company. In January, Upwind announced it had raised $250 million in funding led by Bessemer Venture Partners and achieved a $1.5 billion valuation. The startup also said it had added more than 100 new partners during the previous year. In particular, those partners have included channel players such as MSPs and VARs, according to the company.