AI security firm depthfirst announces $40 million Series A

As cybercriminals increasingly use artificial intelligence to scale and automate attacks, cybersecurity companies are also turning to AI to strengthen defences. DepthFirst, a security startup focused on AI-powered defence, announced Wednesday that it has raised $40 million in a Series A funding round.

Founded in October 2024, the company raised a round led by Accel Partners, with participation from SV Angel, Mantis VC, and Alt Capital.

Depthfirst offers a platform called General Security Intelligence, an AI-native security suite designed to help organisations scan and analyse their codebases and workflows for potential risks. According to the company, the platform also helps businesses protect against credential exposure and monitor threats from open-source software and third-party components.

The startup plans to use the new funding to expand its applied research and engineering teams and to invest in product development and sales.

“We’ve entered an era where software is written faster than it can be secured,” said Qasim Mithani, co-founder and CEO of depthfirst, in the announcement. Mithani, who previously worked at Databricks and Amazon, added that automation has fundamentally changed how attackers operate. “AI has already changed how attackers work. Defense has to evolve just as fundamentally.”

Depthfirst’s leadership team brings experience across both AI and cybersecurity. Another co-founder, Daniele Perito, previously served as director of security and risk engineering at Square, which is part of Block. The company’s CTO and co-founder, Andrea Michi, was formerly an engineer at Google DeepMind.

While AI is increasingly used for legitimate purposes, it is also being adopted by cybercriminals to automate a wide range of malicious activities, including malware creation, social engineering, vulnerability scanning, and exploitation. In November, Anthropic said it had disrupted what it described as the first “AI-orchestrated cyber espionage campaign.”

Depthfirst says its platform is designed to protect organisations from many of these AI-driven threats. The company also noted that it has already formed partnerships with several well-known companies, including AngelList, Lovable, and Moveworks.