Simbian raises $10M to automate security operations with generative AI

Simbian Inc., a startup that has developed what it says is the first generative artificial intelligence copilot for cybersecurity teams, revealed today that it has closed on an oversubscribed, $10 million seed funding round to launch its new platform.

Today’s round was led by security and AI-focused investors such as Cota Capital, Icon Ventures, Firebolt and Rain Capital. Also participating were notable angel investors such as Olivier Pomel, co-founder and chief executive of Datadog Inc.; Pankaj Patel, co-founder and CEO of Nile Global Inc.; and Joe Sullivan, former chief security officer at Meta Platforms Inc., Uber Technologies Inc. and Cloudflare Inc.

The company said it’s aiming to deliver on the promise of fully autonomous security, and to do that, it’s starting with the debut of its novel security copilot tool that’s designed to integrate secure and intelligent AI systems into diverse information technology environments to help identify threats and expedite resolutions.

According to Simbian, its copilot works by constantly observing the actions of security team personnel and also the environments they monitor. In doing this, it learns to perform increasingly complex tasks autonomously, over time.

The startup reckons it’s the first generative AI-powered security copilot that’s able to adapt to diverse IT environments, covering the full gamut of security functions. The vast majority of enterprises today use a mixture of third-party software along with their own, in-house security tools, and each one has its own unique security concerns, the startup says. As such, they need a copilot tool that can learn and adapt to meet their exclusive security needs, which is precisely what Simbian says it’s delivering.

Its copilot is designed to assist every member of an organization’s security team. Users can simply tell it what they’re trying to achieve in their natural language, and the copilot’s patent-pending large language model will come up with personalized recommendations and suggest automated actions it can take on their behalf.

Simbian says its copilot can help deliver superior security outcomes at lower costs, while expanding teams’ ability to deal with the evolving nature of the threats they face.

Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Dave Gruber said AI-driven security systems have the potential to greatly improve threat detection, speed up remediation and reduce complexity. “Simbian is bringing this vision to reality as it leverages AI to automate many of the more challenging, frequent security tasks performed by all level security analysts throughout their day,” he said.

The startup is also trying to address the security concerns that arise from deploying off-the-shelf generative AI models. Many organizations are hesitant to rely on such systems, since they’re worried about exposing confidential information, as well as the risk of prompt injection attacks and “hallucinations,” which is when AI simply invents false responses or comes up with ill-advised suggestions. According to Simbian, it can minimize these risks through its use of a “hardened LLM system” it calls TrustedLLM, which features multiple layers of security controls.

Simbian reckons its copilot will eventually enable fully autonomous security by gradually learning to perform all tactical security tasks under its own steam, leaving human security personnel free to focus on strategic goals.

Cota Capital Partner Aditya Singh said Simbian is interesting because companies are faced with a lack of available security talent at a time when attack vectors are becoming more complex. “A fully autonomous security platform presents a big opportunity in the global cybersecurity market,” he said.

Simbian’s co-founders include CEO Ambuj Kumar, who helped to found the data security firm Fortanix Inc., where he also served as its CEO. Prior to that, Kumar was the lead designer at Nvidia Corp., where he led the company’s graphics processing unit development team.

Kumar said the startup’s copilot should be well-received because most security teams struggle to keep up with the operational tasks they need to perform each day. “Early feedback and traction in the industry has been extremely positive, and we are excited to launch the company today,” he said. “A first in the industry, Simbian puts the security operator firmly in charge of security decisions, and we enable the user to interact with products across vendors to get things done.”

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