Mave, a cybersecurity startup that uses agents to counter the rise in AI-powered cyberattacks, has raised $34 million in funding.
The Israel-based startup says its AI agents pull together information from a company’s existing security systems, investigate alerts, filter out false alarms, and take actions approved by human teams.
“Security operations is the last gate in any organization,” cofounder and CEO Raziel Oren said, comparing it to the physical security guards who monitor a building’s live camera footage. “This thing is really broken from the inside. The roots of the solutions there are just not keeping the relevant pace with the emerging threats.”
AI has transformed cyber threats at a dizzying pace. Attacks can happen much faster and on a much larger scale, and Oren predicted that the increase in agent-powered incidents will be “exponential.”
Mave says its own agents help human security teams keep up. “You can’t hire your way out of this,” Oren told Business Insider. “There must be a change in how you do [security operations] in order to protect your organizations.”
Oren cofounded Mave with Guy Eshel in 2025 after years of friendship. The two met when Oren was Eshel’s mentor in unit 8200 of the Israel Defense Forces, which sits under the intelligence corps and gave them firsthand experience with cybersecurity issues.
AI agents have come under the spotlight after a string of high-profile security breaches. Corporate leaders have grown increasingly worried about the cybersecurity risks AI poses, and some of Wall Street’s executives spent third-quarter earnings calls explaining how they’re defending against rogue AI agents.
The technology has also been used by researchers to uncover security flaws: this week, OpenAI said one of its AI models had helped identify a vulnerability that puts 70% of the world’s websites at risk.
Oren said it takes some customers time to become comfortable handing over security operations to agents, but that the product’s transparency is key to building trust. Mave says its agents track each step of their thousands of workflows, giving human employees insight into the agents’ reasoning and actions.
Mave charges its customers a flat rate, depending on the company’s size and needs. Other startups have also jumped at the opportunity Mave sees, including agentic cybersecurity companies Dropzone and Prophet Security.
Mave’s $34 million funding consists of $28 million from a recent Series A round, led by Red Dot Capital Partners and with participation from Lumir Growth Partners, and an earlier $6 million seed round.
The startup currently has 30 employees and plans to use some of the fresh capital to double its headcount, mainly for go-to-market roles and AI research.
Read the pitch deck Mave used to raise its Series A round:
