Horizon3.ai Raises $100M to Cement Leadership in Autonomous Security
SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Horizon3.ai, the company behind the NodeZero® Autonomous Security Platform, today announced a $100 million Series D funding round led by NEA, with participation from SignalFire, Craft Ventures and 9Yards Capital. As part of the investment, Lila Tretikov, Partner and Head of AI Strategy at NEA and former Deputy CTO of Microsoft, will join the Horizon3.ai Board of Directors.
'Over the past four years, we've proven that using AI to hack companies isn't science fiction—it's real, and it's delivering measurable results at scale. There are now over 3,000 organizations using NodeZero globally to conduct penetration tests. We're sustaining 100%+ year-over-year ARR growth, and we are now Rule of 40-positive, which means we're not just growing—we're growing efficiently,' said Snehal Antani, CEO and Co-founder of Horizon3.ai. 'This raise marks the next chapter in our mission to lead the Autonomous Security category.'
'Security teams are tired of chasing CVEs, false positives, and compliance checkboxes. They want to find and fix what actually matters, verify it's resolved, and go home early,' said Antani. 'The hardest part of the job as a CIO is deciding what not to fix. The second hardest part is proving to the board that your security initiatives are meaningfully reducing risk. NodeZero plays a critical role in reducing your threat exposure over time.'
Targeting an $80B Total Addressable Market: Autonomous Security
The cybersecurity market is undergoing a generational shift. NodeZero successfully compromised a bank in 4 minutes with no humans required, far faster than the reaction time of the bank's security team and their best-in-class tools. Similarly, adversaries are leveraging AI to exponentially increase the sophistication, complexity, speed and scale of attacks. The Horizon3.ai thesis is simple: the future of cyber will be algorithms fighting algorithms—at machine speed—with humans by exception. This requires a fundamental rebuild of every part of the cybersecurity stack. And to do so effectively, you need a deep understanding of how attackers operate—and an AI system that can use offensive insights to drive defensive improvements. Horizon3.ai is leading this shift.
'Horizon3.ai has already realized what others are just beginning to imagine. NodeZero is a fully autonomous security system operating in live production environments—executing real attacks, uncovering real risk, and delivering real results,' said Antani.
Powered by reinforcement learning, graph reasoning, and AI, NodeZero doesn't simulate adversaries—it thinks and acts like one. Each cyber attack against production systems executed by NodeZero collects training data used to improve its algorithms, creating a compounding data advantage that no other platform can match. This is the foundation for the next era of cybersecurity, where AI doesn't just find risk, but continuously improves defenses. Horizon3.ai isn't chasing the future—it's building it.
Use of Proceeds: Accelerating Toward the Future
With this funding, Horizon3 is accelerating across three strategic fronts:
Scale through partners – Doubling down on its partner ecosystem to meet growing demand across the Americas, EMEA, and APAC.
Product innovation – Expanding into web application pentesting, vulnerability management, and precision defense, where NodeZero can remediate findings and tune defensive tools.
Winning the federal market – Scaling its success with the Defense Industrial Base through the NSA's Continuous Autonomous Pentesting (CAPT) program, accelerating FedRAMP High usage, and expanding into Secret and Top Secret workloads to help secure the nation's most mission-critical systems.
'What drew us to Horizon3.ai is the clarity of their mission and the speed at which they're executing it,' said Aaron Jacobson, Partner at NEA. 'They are defining a new security category—autonomous security—and are already the go-to solution for red and blue teams alike. We're thrilled to lead this round and support the company's next phase of growth.'
'Snehal and the Horizon3.ai team are tackling one of the biggest problems in cybersecurity: automating both sides to ensure maximum defensibility against automated and AI-driven attacks,' said Lila Tretikov, Partner and Head of AI Strategy at NEA. 'Their customers love NodeZero, and the team has proven to operate with excellence at scale, which is why Horizon3.ai is transforming how security is done. I'm excited to join the board and help shape this next chapter.'
The impact is immediate and measurable. In one recent pentest, NodeZero gained access to sensitive US aircraft carrier design data through a third-party supplier. No humans were involved in the pentest. The platform autonomously compromised the network, gained access to sensitive data, and then guided defenders on exactly what to fix to prevent a breach.
'My old boss used to say, 'don't tell me we're secure, show me, then show me again tomorrow, and again next week, because our environment is always changing and the enemy always has a vote,'' said Antani.
To learn more about NodeZero visit www.horizon3.ai.
For media inquiries and interviews, please see the Media Contact below.
About Horizon3.ai
Horizon3.ai is the leader in autonomous security. Our platform, NodeZero, continuously finds and exploits real-world attack paths so defenders can fix what matters and prove they're secure. Founded by former U.S. Special Operations cyber operators and enterprise security leaders, Horizon3.ai is trusted by over 3,000 organizations worldwide—from Fortune 500 companies to national defense partners.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
33 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Intel to outsource marketing to Accenture and AI, resulting in more layoffs
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Employees at Intel's marketing division were informed that many of their roles will be handed over to Accenture, which will use AI to handle tasks traditionally done by Intel staff, reports OregonLive. The decision is part of a company-wide restructuring plan that includes job cuts, automation, and streamlining of execution. The marketing division has been one of Intel's key strengths since the company began communicating directly with end users with the launch of its "Intel Inside" campaign in 1991. However, it looks like the company will drastically cut its human-driven marketing efforts going forward, as it plans to lay off many of its marketing employees, believing that Accenture's AI will do a better job connecting Intel with customers. The number of positions affected was not disclosed, but Intel confirmed changes will significantly alter team structures, with only 'lean' teams remaining. Workers will be told by July 11 whether they will remain with the company. Among other things, the aim of the restructuring is to free up internal teams to focus on strategic, creative, and high-value projects, rather than routine functions. Therefore, Intel intends to use Accenture's AI in various aspects of marketing, including information processing, task automation, and personalized communications. Intel has acknowledged the shift to Accenture and explained that this will not only cut costs but will modernize its capabilities and strengthen its brand. How exactly the usage of AI instead of real people can reinforce the brand hasn't been explained yet. "As we announced earlier this year, we are taking steps to become a leaner, faster and more efficient company," a statement by Intel published by OregonLive reads. "As part of this, we are focused on modernizing our digital capabilities to serve our customers better and strengthen our brand. Accenture is a longtime partner and trusted leader in these areas and we look forward to expanding our work together." In messages to staff published by OregonLive, Intel indicated that part of the restructuring may involve existing employees training Accenture contractors by explaining how Intel's operations work. This knowledge transfer would occur during the transitional phase of the outsourcing plan, although it is unclear how long this phase will take. Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News to get our up-to-date news, analysis, and reviews in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button.
Entrepreneur
an hour ago
- Entrepreneur
Engineering the Future with AI
"The biggest challenge isn't just deploying AI, it's embedding it into complex workflows while ensuring compliance, traceability, and IP protection," says K. A. Prabhakaran, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Cyient Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. You're reading Entrepreneur India, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media. In a rapidly evolving industrial landscape, where the boundaries of design, manufacturing, and aftersales are increasingly blurred by digitalisation, Indian multinational Cyient is placing intelligent engineering at the heart of transformation. Established in 1991 and now employing over 17,000 people globally, Cyient has evolved into a leader in blending deep domain expertise with next-generation technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Generative AI (GenAI), and simulation tools to drive industry-wide innovation. "Our technology portfolio is designed to embed intelligence across the product, plant, and asset lifecycle," shares K. A. Prabhakaran, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Cyient. "We are using AI to accelerate design cycles, optimise manufacturing, increase supply chain visibility, and drive predictive maintenance and aftermarket intelligence." From aerospace and railways to energy, healthcare, and telecom, Cyient's technology is delivering measurable outcomes. Their AI- powered tools have shortened product development timelines, improved asset uptime, and enhanced customer service through GenAI- driven diagnostics and contextual assistants. In telecommunications, Cyient automates network planning and fibre deployments, while in healthcare, their CyNet platform aids in precise fetal diagnostics. One notable case is the company's Plant Advisor solution, which has demonstrated a 67 per cent accuracy in recommending efficiency improvements, underscoring the real-world value of AI in operational environments. What keeps Cyient ahead in the game is its strong culture of learning, strategic partnerships, and co-innovation with customers. "We've trained over 5,000 associates in AI, cloud, and platform technologies," says Prabhakaran. "Our Centres of Excellence, especially the GenAI CoE, serve as catalysts for continuous innovation." Cyient's collabration with Microsoft under the 'EnGeneer' initiative is another step forward in transforming engineering lifecycles through AI-led automation. The company also actively engages with analyst communities and customers to align its offerings with evolving market needs. Yet, integrating AI into traditional engineering ecosystems isn't without its hurdles especially in highly regulated sectors like aerospace and healthcare. "The biggest challenge isn't just deploying AI, it's embedding it into complex workflows while ensuring compliance, traceability, and IP protection," explains Prabhakaran. To tackle this, Cyient has established a robust governance framework that includes human- in-the-loop systems, modular deployments for secure data handling, and domain-specific validation gates. "It's this precision and rigour that makes our AI trustworthy and acts as a natural barrier to entry for others," he concludes.
Bloomberg
2 hours ago
- Bloomberg
How Europe Can Keep Up in the AI Race: VC Investors
Can Europe catch up in the AI race? Or has it already lost to the US and China? We get the view from our panelists from the venture capital world: Carina Namih, partner at VC firm Plural; Laura McGinnis, Principal, Balderton; and Tommy Stadlen, co-founder and general partner at Giant Ventures. They speak to Bloomberg's Tom Mackenzie. (Source: Bloomberg)
