Cymphony, an Israeli cybersecurity startup focused on securing artificial intelligence systems in the workplace, launched Wednesday with $30 million in funding as companies increasingly turn to AI agents that can access data and perform tasks on their behalf.
The funding round was co-led by Sequoia Capital and SMBC Fin Atlas Beyond Fund.
Unlike traditional software, AI agents can do more than retrieve information or assist employees. They can interact with company systems, access sensitive data and take actions with limited human involvement. That has created a new security challenge for companies trying to understand what these systems can access and what they are doing.
Cymphony founders
(Photo: Courtesy of Cymphony)
Cymphony is developing a platform designed to give security teams a single view of how employees and AI agents interact with corporate systems and data.
The company says its technology maps employees and AI agents across an organization, including the systems they can access and the sensitive information they handle. It combines data from software, artificial intelligence systems and employee identities to identify potentially risky activity and help security teams decide what needs to be addressed.
The push comes as businesses move toward what Microsoft has described as "human-agent teams," in which employees work alongside AI agents as part of their daily jobs.
But the rapid adoption of AI is also creating concerns about oversight. Gartner has identified security and governance as major obstacles to the wider use of AI agents. The research firm has predicted that 40% of enterprises will scale back or shut down autonomous AI agents by 2027 because of governance problems that emerge after deployment.
"AI agents are becoming active participants in the business," said Shy Dekel, Cymphony's co-founder and CEO. "Companies need to know what they're doing, what they can access and how they're interacting with employees before they can secure them."
Cymphony was founded by Dekel, Idan Berkovits and Edi Gotlieb, Israeli cybersecurity veterans who are graduates of the Talpiot program, an elite military technology program.
Dekel spent nearly six years in Israel's Unit 8200, where he headed the cyber department. Gotlieb, the company's chief technology officer, previously worked in hardware engineering at Apple and Israel's Ministry of Defense. Berkovits, the company's chief product officer, was a research group manager in the Office of the Prime Minister of Israel.
The founders say their experience in cybersecurity, intelligence and engineering shaped the company's focus on controlling access to data as AI becomes more deeply embedded in corporate operations.
"The biggest enterprise software companies have been built around major technology transitions," said Bogomil Balkansky, a partner at Sequoia Capital. "AI agents represent the next shift, and the companies that provide visibility and control over that new workforce have the opportunity to become foundational platforms."
Logan Allin, managing partner at SMBC Fin Atlas Beyond Fund, said the rise of AI agents is changing how companies approach insider risk and requires security tools that can address both human and AI activity.
Cymphony said it already has customers including Syngenta, KKR, Cass Information Systems and Athennian.
The company plans to use the new funding to develop its platform, expand its engineering and sales teams and pursue additional enterprise customers.
As AI agents take on more responsibilities inside companies, Cymphony is betting that understanding who — or what — has access to corporate data will become a central part of enterprise security.