Security Startups

Detection and response

Independent XDR, MDR, and detection-engineering startups. Not the public mega-cap EDR floor.

18 companies · ordered by name · no paid placement · About this category

0–9

7AI

Boston, USA

  • Series A
  • $166M raised
  • Founded 2024

Swarming AI agents that take over the investigation work human SOCs cannot staff.

Raised $130M Series A led by Index Ventures, December 2025

A

Abstract Security

United States

  • Founded 2023

Composable security operations platform that runs detections on data in motion and lets teams pick their own storage and SIEM back end.

Raised $25M in a round co-led by Cheyenne Ventures and AVP, July 2026

Arctic Wolf

Eden Prairie, USA

  • Series F
  • $900M raised
  • Founded 2012

Concierge MDR on the Aurora platform, now with its own endpoint prevention.

Launched Aurora Endpoint Security and acquired Cylance from BlackBerry in 2025

C

Conifers

Dallas, USA

  • Series A
  • $25M raised
  • Founded 2024

MSSP-first agentic SOC that wires intel, hunting, detections, investigation, and response into one loop.

Raised $25M Series A led by SYN Ventures, January 2025

Corma

Tel Aviv, Israel

  • Seed
  • $60M raised
  • Founded 2025

Defensive cybersecurity AI lab training its own foundation model to power agents that work inside security teams.

Raised a $60M seed round led by Sequoia Capital, August 2026

D

DataBahn

United States

  • Series B
  • $59M raised
  • Founded 2024

Security data pipeline that collects, trims, enriches, and routes telemetry before it reaches the SIEM or data lake.

Raised a $40M Series B led by Insight Partners, July 2026

Dropzone AI

Seattle, USA

  • Series B
  • $57M raised
  • Founded 2023

Software-only AI SOC analyst that investigates alerts without a managed service attached.

Raised $37M Series B led by Theory Ventures, July 2025

E

Exaforce

San Jose, USA

  • Series B
  • $200M raised
  • Founded 2023

Real-time knowledge graph plus Exabot agents that investigate and stop attacks as they happen.

Raised $125M Series B at a $725M valuation, May 2026

Expel

Herndon, USA

  • Series E
  • $289M raised
  • Founded 2016

Vendor-agnostic MDR that works on the SIEM and EDR you already bought.

Launched MDR coverage for the full AI attack surface, August 2026

H

Huntress

Columbia, USA

  • Series D
  • $300M raised
  • Founded 2015

Managed EDR, identity, and SIEM for businesses that do not run a 24/7 SOC.

Surpassed $250M ARR and 270,000 businesses protected, July 2026

I

Intezer

New York, USA

  • Series C
  • $60M raised
  • Founded 2016

Forensic-grade AI SOC that investigates 100% of alerts, including the low-severity ones MDR skips.

Expanded AI SOC platform for teams outgrowing MDR, March 2026

M

Mate Security

Tel Aviv, Israel

  • Series A
  • $50.5M raised
  • Founded 2025

AI SOC that builds a per-company context graph first, then triages, investigates, and responds to alerts with a human approving actions.

Raised a $35M Series A led by Canaan Partners, July 2026

P

Prophet Security

Menlo Park, USA

  • Series A
  • $41M raised
  • Founded 2023

Agentic SOC platform covering investigation, hunting, and detection engineering in one mesh.

Raised $30M Series A led by Accel, July 2025

Q

Qevlar AI

Paris, France

  • Series A
  • $45M raised
  • Founded 2023

European agentic SOC that turns every alert investigation into posture insight.

Raised $30M co-led by Partech and Forgepoint Capital International, March 2026

S

Simbian

Mountain View, USA

  • Seed
  • $10.5M raised
  • Founded 2023

Self-improving AI SOC that unifies defense, hunting, and offense on one agent family.

Named to the CB Insights AI 100, May 2026, after 15x customer growth in 2025

T

TENEX.AI

Sarasota, USA

  • Series B
  • $277M raised
  • Founded 2024

AI-native MDR that triages every alert in under a minute, with humans on the loop.

Raised $250M Series B led by Crosspoint, March 2026

Tines

Dublin, Ireland

  • Series C
  • $271M raised
  • Founded 2018

Workflow automation that security teams actually own, now with agentic AI on top.

Raised $125M Series C at a $1.13B valuation, February 2025

Torq

Tel Aviv, Israel

  • Series D
  • $332M raised
  • Founded 2020

Hyperautomation platform turning SOAR playbooks into an agentic SOC.

Raised $140M Series D at a $1.2B valuation, January 2026

About this category

About detection and response

Detection and response is the operational heart of this directory: the companies buyers call when alerts keep firing and the team cannot keep up.

This index maps every company whose primary product is detecting, triaging, investigating, or responding to security events, whether delivery is software agents, human-led MDR, or workflow automation. Public mega-cap SIEM and EDR consoles stay off this list.

Every entry carries a 2024 to 2026 proof-of-life signal recorded with a source link, and membership is taxonomy from the research pass.

What they build

The products here split into three overlapping shapes: agentic investigation software that clears Tier-1 and Tier-2 alert queues with an evidence trail, managed detection and response where named analysts plus agents own outcomes on the customer's existing stack, and automation platforms that glue tools into deterministic workflows with AI steps where they pay off.

Detection engineering shows up inside the same platforms: agents that write and tune detections from what investigations find. Several of these products are built for MSSP delivery rather than the single-tenant enterprise.

Who this is for

SOC leaders comparing agentic triage software against human-led MDR, MSSP founders looking for multi-tenant platforms, and investors mapping the AI SOC field by what each company actually ships rather than by funding headlines.

Who is listed

Included only when a live company has primary category detection-response. Prevention-first endpoint suites, public mega-cap SIEM platforms, and PR-comment reviewers live in their own categories or off this directory.

Inclusion is category-based and verification-gated, not paid placement and not an endorsement of outcomes.

How order works

Listings are the full live catalog slice for this primary category, sorted alphabetically by name. This is not a scored quality ranking and there is no paid placement. Aevral is a disclosed house listing under the same rules (live, no pin). See /transparency.

18 companies. Catalog last reviewed 2026-08-23. Page copy reviewed 2026-09-04. Next review by 2026-10-04. Ordered by name. No paid placement.