Hackers have increasingly turned to AI to scale up attacks, with email emerging as a primary vector. AI tools can rapidly aggregate personal details — such as information about coworkers, active projects, or recent travel — enabling attackers to produce highly convincing, personalized messages.
Last year, former Google security executives Cy Khormaee and Ryan Luo, who previously worked on safe browsing technology and reCAPTCHA at Google, launched AegisAI. The startup uses AI-driven agents designed specifically to detect and stop spear-phishing attacks.
With more than a decade of experience defending against email hacks, the co-founders concluded that existing rule-based, "if–then" systems are too slow and narrow to catch many AI-crafted malicious messages. In response, they developed AI agents that analyze each incoming message much like a human would, focusing on subtle anomalies that static checklists can miss.
Customers and funding
Less than a year after launching, AegisAI reports that dozens of customers have adopted its technology, including crypto payments company Mesh, AI startup LangChain, and privacy compliance platform Lokker. Demand for the product helped the company secure a $36 million Series A round led by Battery Ventures, with participation from existing backers Accel and Foundation Capital. The new funding raises AegisAI’s total capital to $49 million.
Dharmesh Thakker, general partner at Battery Ventures, said he began looking for an investment after seeing an increase in email attacks and wanted a company that would defend against AI with AI and replace legacy email security tools with agent-driven defenses.
What the technology detects and who else is competing
AegisAI says its agents can detect threats that traditional email security systems may entirely miss. As an example, the company points to malicious PDF attachments that appear legitimate at first glance — including PDFs protected by embedded passwords or CAPTCHA mechanisms — techniques often used to bypass standard spam filters.
AegisAI is not the only startup applying AI to analyze the context of every incoming email to find fraud and impersonation attempts. Lightspeed-backed Ocean is another company attempting to displace established vendors such as Proofpoint and Mimecast, as well as newer players like Abnormal Security.
Because AegisAI is led by engineers who helped secure Gmail, the most widely used email system in the world, Thakker believes the startup has a strong chance of becoming a leading new provider of hack-prevention technology.
Next steps
While AegisAI currently focuses on email, the company plans to expand into other defensive areas over time, including data security. Cy Khormaee has said that building customized, highly capable investigative agents will be a determining factor in which company becomes the next dominant security provider.
