Mandiant’s founder just raised $190M for his autonomous AI agent security startup

Kevin Mandia, the visionary behind the cybersecurity firm Mandiant, which was sold to Google for $5.4 billion in 2022, has unveiled a new venture focused on AI-driven cybersecurity solutions. His latest startup, Armadin, has achieved an impressive milestone by raising $189.9 million in a funding round that combines seed and Series A investments, marking a significant achievement in the realm of early-stage security startups. Leading the funding effort was Accel, with additional support from notable investors including GV, Kleiner Perkins, Menlo Ventures, 8VC, Ballistic Ventures, and In-Q-Tel, the venture capital arm of the CIA. While the company has not disclosed its valuation, it asserts that this funding total is unprecedented for a security startup at such an early stage. Despite other security startups raising larger Series A rounds in the past, such as 1Password and OneTrust, those companies had years of experience under their belts, with 1Password being 14 years old and OneTrust three years old at the time of their funding. Mandia, who previously served as a venture capitalist at Ballistic Ventures, aims to develop autonomous cybersecurity agents capable of learning and adapting to threats without human intervention. Mandia has expressed concerns about the rise of autonomous AI hackers, emphasizing that the capabilities of AI are changing the landscape of cybersecurity. He warned that with AI on the offensive, attackers will possess technologies that can think, learn, and adapt, enabling them to execute complex attacks in a fraction of the time it once took. Armadin's mission is to equip cybersecurity professionals, often referred to as 'white hats,' with automated agents to defend against AI-driven attacks orchestrated by 'black hats.' Joining Mandia in this venture are former Google Cloud Security principal engineer Travis Lanham, ex-Mandiant executive Evan Peña, and former Google SecOps engineer David Slater. TechCrunch has reached out for further insights into the company's objectives and strategies.