Mindgard has announced the completion of an $8 million funding round aimed at accelerating its R&D efforts and expanding its presence in the U.S. market. The funding was led by .406Ventures, with participation from Atlantic Bridge, Willowtree Investments, and existing investors IQ Capital and Lakestar. Additionally, Mindgard has appointed two industry leaders to serve as Head of Product and Vice President of Marketing to strengthen the company's product development and market promotion.
With the rapid proliferation of AI technology, new security risks are emerging, making it challenging for traditional security tools to cope with this complex security environment. Research from Gartner indicates that 29% of companies report security breaches when deploying AI systems, while only 10% of internal auditors have adequate visibility into AI risks. New risks, such as prompt injection and jailbreak attacks on large language models (LLMs), exploit the probabilistic and opaque nature of AI systems, with these issues often only surfacing during runtime. Therefore, ensuring the security of AI models and their toolchains requires a completely new approach.
Mindgard is committed to transforming AI security testing and automated red team detection by launching its industry-first Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST-AI) solution. This advanced technology can identify and remediate AI-specific vulnerabilities that can only be detected during runtime. For organizations adopting AI technology, continuous security testing is key to gaining visibility into risks throughout the AI lifecycle. Mindgard's solution can seamlessly integrate into existing automation processes, allowing security teams, developers, AI red team members, and penetration testers to secure AI systems without disrupting workflows.
Greg Dracon, partner at .406Ventures, stated, “The rapid proliferation of AI has introduced new security risks that traditional tools cannot address. Mindgard’s innovative approach effectively tackles the unique challenges of AI security, providing the tools necessary for security teams and developers to safeguard AI systems. We believe Mindgard can lead this emerging market and look forward to collaborating with them.”
Dr. Peter Garraghan, CEO of Mindgard and Professor at Lancaster University, noted, “All software has security risks, and AI is no exception. However, the way these risks manifest in AI is fundamentally different from other software. With a decade of experience in AI security research, we established Mindgard to address this challenge and create a safer and more reliable environment for the future of AI.”
Key Highlights:
🌟 Mindgard successfully raised $8 million to drive the development and market expansion of its AI security testing technology.
🔐 Its Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST-AI) solution specifically targets AI-related security vulnerabilities, ensuring continuous security monitoring.
🚀 With the newly appointed executives, Mindgard aims to strengthen its leadership position in the North American market.
