This startup just raised $6 million from 8VC and Marc Benioff to find the hidden security flaws in AI code

Enclave, an innovative startup dedicated to identifying critical security vulnerabilities in AI-generated code, has emerged from stealth mode with a significant seed funding of $6 million, valuing the company at $33 million. This funding round is led by 8VC and features a lineup of notable tech investors, including Stripe co-founder Patrick Collison, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, Box CEO Aaron Levie, and Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman. The backing from 8VC is influenced by their investment in Cognition, an AI coding startup known for its coding agent Devin, which has provided insights into the rapid proliferation of AI-generated software. "We have observed a surge in AI code generation across various companies and large organizations," said Vivek Gopalan of 8VC. He emphasized that traditional tools are insufficient to tackle this new challenge. Founded by Tal Hoffman (CEO), Dvir Segev (CTO), and Yanir Tsarimi (CPO), Enclave's leadership team shares a history in application security, having met during their service in Israel’s elite Unit 8200, a renowned breeding ground for cybersecurity and AI expertise. This military background has led to the establishment of several successful tech firms in the cybersecurity space. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella noted last year that as much as 30% of his company’s code is AI-generated. Similarly, Boris Cherny, founder of Claude Code, claimed that nearly all their code is produced by AI tools, with no manual coding done in over two months. Hoffman, who began coding at the age of 12, estimates that AI contributes to about 60% of the code written by startups today, predicting that this figure could reach 90% within three years. Hoffman highlighted the efficiency of AI in coding processes, sharing an example where a substantial feature that typically would take two weeks to develop was completed in just two hours by AI. However, he raised concerns that the AI-generated code often contains vulnerabilities. "Existing solutions focus on quantity rather than quality," he stated. Enclave is entering a competitive application security landscape that includes established players like Snyk, Checkmarx, and Semgrep. Hoffman's vision for Enclave is to differentiate by moving beyond merely scanning for known vulnerabilities and striving for a comprehensive understanding of system behaviors. "By embedding deep knowledge of how systems function, we can more effectively identify potential vulnerabilities," he explained.