Exclusive: AI threat-hunting startup Nebulock raises $8.5M
Why it matters: Cyber defenders are in a race against malicious hackers to embrace AI tools before automated attacks become the norm.
Some of the biggest advancements for defenders are coming from startups that have the flexibility to build new technologies from scratch, rather than retrofitting AI capabilities into existing products.
Driving the news: Nebulock emerged from stealth today with $8.5 million in funding, including a fresh $6 million seed round led by Bain.
Zoom in: Nebulock offers an autonomous threat-hunting platform that actively scans and responds to malicious activity on a company's system.
The product — which uses both machine learning algorithms and AI agents to study telemetry data — can be plugged into the existing security stack, including CrowdStrike, Okta and Splunk, via an API to detect endpoint, identity and cloud security threats.
While in stealth, Nebulock tested its products with a variety of customers across health tech companies, banks and VC-backed technology firms, Damien Lewke, the startup's founder and CEO, told Axios.
The big picture: 90% of companies say they're not ready for AI-powered cyber threats, and cyber threat hunters are inundated with alerts about potential malicious activity across their companies' environments.
Defenders have been eager for AI-enabled tools that can not only help them sort through those notifications but also automatically respond to significant threats.
"Our vision is to have Nebulock be that teammate that tips the balance of power back in the hands of network defenders," Lewke said.
Reality check: Cybersecurity has long been a crowded market, and automated threat response is no different. But Lewke told Axios that customers' awareness of the problem has been high.
What's next: Lewke said the startup will use the new funds to hire more engineers and sales and marketing employees and also to build out the platform to expand the types of threats it can detect.
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