Protect AI, a US-based startup offering security for artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) systems, has raised $35m in a Series A funding round.
Evolution Equity Partners led the round, which was joined by Salesforce Ventures.
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The start-up’s existing investors Acrew Capital, boldstart ventures, Knollwood Capital and Pelion Ventures also participated in the round.
Protect AI has built a platform, called AI Radar, to assist organisations in defending ML systems and AI applications against security weaknesses, data breaches, and new threats.
The company plans to use the new funding to expand its research and development, customer success, and go-to-market strategies.
Protect AI co-founder and CEO Ian Swanson said: “AI applications are being deployed at an extraordinary and unprecedented rate across all industries and business functions, with virtually no visibility and oversight into the assets being used in their ML systems.
“This new funding will provide the resources to help us scale Protect AI and capitalise on the significant market opportunity in front of us.”
Concurrently, the company announced that Richard Seewald, founder and managing partner at Evolution Equity Partners, joined its board of directors.
Seewald added: “Despite the sheer magnitude of the AI/ML security challenge, none of the industry’s largest cybersecurity vendors currently offer a solution to this problem.
“Protect AI’s founders have built and managed the largest AI/ML businesses in the world for AWS and Oracle, and have assembled one of the most accomplished teams I have seen in a startup. The company has the vision, technology and expertise to capture a lion’s share of this new market category.”
