Prompt Security raises USD $18m for GenAI protection

Prompt Security has announced that it raised USD $18 million in a series A funding round.

The funding was led by Jump Capital with contributions from Hetz Ventures, Ridge Ventures, Okta, and F5. It aims to support Prompt Security in its mission to protect enterprises from threats associated with generative AI (GenAI) while providing visibility and governance over GenAI tools. The company's platform seeks to secure every AI touchpoint within organizations, from browsers and copilots to coding assistants and custom applications, allowing safe GenAI utilization without compromising data privacy or security.

A survey by Gartner revealed that almost 30% of enterprises using AI experienced security breaches in 2023. Prompt Security's research indicates that the average enterprise employs 67 GenAI tools, with nearly 90% being improperly licensed or without corporate approval. Additionally, 39% of these tools may lead to policy violations by training on enterprise data, potentially exposing sensitive intellectual property.

Itamar Golan, Co-Founder and CEO of Prompt Security, stated, "As enterprises accelerate their adoption of GenAI, so do the associated risks. This funding supercharges our mission to enable the safe use and deployment of GenAI in enterprises by mitigating such risks. With the support of our investors, we will continue advancing our solutions and expanding both our geographic footprint and presence across different industries."

As part of its security measures, Prompt Security's platform inspects prompts and model responses, preventing data leaks, blocking harmful content, and protecting against GenAI-specific attacks such as shadow AI, prompt injections, and jailbreaks. The platform offers full visibility, governance, and policy enforcement for the AI tools within organizations, with flexible deployment options. Prompt Security has notably been the first to provide comprehensive security and governance for Microsoft 365's Copilot. Since emerging from stealth in January, the company has quadrupled its revenue and expanded its customer base fivefold, including several Fortune 500 companies.

The founding team of Prompt Security comes with extensive experience in cybersecurity and AI, including Co-founder and CEO Itamar Golan's previous roles at Check Point Software Technologies and Orca Security. Co-founder and CTO Lior Drihem spent 18 years at Check Point, serving as Director of Innovation before collaborating with Golan on integrating GPT-3 into API and cybersecurity systems at Orca.

Saurabh Sharma, Partner at Jump Capital, commented, "Prompt Security is addressing one of the most critical gaps in today's rapidly evolving AI landscape. Prompt Security's innovative platform secures organizations from the already widespread use of AI, and we are convinced that they are well-positioned to conquer one of the fastest-growing markets in security today. We're excited to support their mission to protect businesses from emerging AI threats, and we believe their approach will redefine GenAI Security."

Shawn Bower, Chief Information Security Officer at The New York Times, remarked, "Securing the AI landscape within the enterprise is really challenging. Prompt Security's approach to employees, developers, and applications is holistic and encompassing."

Yousuf Khan, Partner at Ridge Ventures, shared, "From the moment we met the Prompt Security team, we knew we had the right founder-market fit. Their ability to quickly win over enterprise customers using Gen AI and LLM-based applications, all secured by Prompt, was compelling and undeniable. We clearly sense that the incumbents with existing security tools were struggling to make their customers successful. We're excited to partner with Itamar and Lior, and the team as they transform enterprise security for the AI era."

Pavel Livshiz, General Partner at Hetz Ventures, noted, "Prompt Security has exceeded the benchmarks we set when leading their seed round. This Series A is a testament to their progress, market validation, and most of all, their exceptional team, and we're enthusiastic about doubling down."

Austin Arensberg, Senior Director at Okta Ventures, observed, "Security leaders need to navigate the balance between being the enabler of AI in the organization while keeping full data privacy and security. Prompt Security equips them with a comprehensive solution to safely and securely embrace Generative AI and in a way that integrates with their existing workflows. We believe the company is well positioned to be a leader in GenAI Security and are excited to embark on this journey with them."

Richard Moore, Security Director at 10x Banking, added, "Generative AI's productivity gains are essential for staying competitive in today's fast-paced tech landscape, but legacy tools aren't enough to safeguard them. Prompt Security's comprehensive GenAI Security platform empowers us to innovate at business speed while ensuring we meet industry regulations and protect customer data, giving us the peace of mind we need."

Dave Perry, Digital Workspace Operations Manager at St. Joseph's Healthcare, stated, "Prompt Security has been an instrumental piece of our AI adoption strategy. Embracing the innovation that AI has brought to the healthcare industry is paramount for us, but we need to make sure we do it by maintaining the highest levels of data privacy and governance, and Prompt Security does exactly that."