Adaptive Security Raises $81 Million: Redefining Cyber Defense in the Age of AI-Driven Threats

As artificial intelligence continues to reshape the digital world, cybersecurity is facing one of its most disruptive turning points yet. Attackers are no longer relying solely on malware or technical exploits; instead, they are using AI-powered social engineering, deepfake impersonations, and hyper-personalized phishing attacks that target human trust. In this rapidly evolving threat landscape, Adaptive Security has emerged as a standout player—recently raising $81 million in Series B funding, signaling strong investor confidence in a new, human-centric approach to cybersecurity.

This milestone funding round places Adaptive Security at the forefront of modern cyber defense and highlights a growing industry shift: protecting people is now just as critical as protecting systems.

A Major Vote of Confidence from Global Investors

Adaptive Security’s $81 million Series B round was led by Bain Capital Ventures, with participation from high-profile investors including NVentures (NVIDIA’s venture arm), the OpenAI Startup Fund, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Abstract Ventures, Capital One Ventures, and Citi Ventures. With this round, the company’s total funding has reached approximately $146.5 million, marking one of the most significant raises in the human-risk cybersecurity segment this year.

The backing of AI-focused and enterprise-centric investors underscores the urgency of Adaptive’s mission. As generative AI tools become widely accessible, the cost and effort required to launch sophisticated attacks have dropped dramatically. Investors are betting that organizations will increasingly prioritize platforms that can address these emerging risks at scale.

Why Adaptive Security’s Timing Is Critical

Cybersecurity has traditionally focused on firewalls, endpoint protection, and vulnerability patching. While these controls remain essential, they are no longer sufficient on their own. Today’s most damaging breaches often begin with a simple human mistake—an employee responding to a convincing phishing email, a finance executive falling for a deepfake voice call, or a trusted vendor account being impersonated.

AI has amplified these threats. Attackers can now generate realistic emails, clone voices, and simulate executives within minutes. These attacks bypass traditional security tools because they exploit psychology rather than software flaws.

Adaptive Security addresses this exact challenge by focusing on human risk management—helping organizations understand how employees react under realistic attack scenarios and strengthening defenses where they matter most.

Adaptive Security’s Rapid Funding Momentum

The Series B round follows an impressive funding trajectory over the past year, demonstrating strong momentum and market traction.

Earlier this year, Adaptive Security raised a $43 million Series A, co-led by Andreessen Horowitz and the OpenAI Startup Fund. This round attracted attention across the cybersecurity industry, particularly because it marked one of OpenAI’s earliest cybersecurity investments.

Later, follow-on investments brought Adaptive’s Series A total to $55 million, further reinforcing confidence in its approach. Just months later, the $81 million Series B elevated Adaptive from a fast-growing startup to a serious enterprise security contender.

What Adaptive Security Does Differently

Adaptive Security delivers an AI-powered platform designed to prepare organizations for modern social engineering threats. Instead of relying on static security awareness training or basic phishing simulations, Adaptive focuses on continuous, realistic testing and behavior-driven insights.

Core Capabilities Include:

• AI-Driven Attack Simulations
  Adaptive simulates real-world threats across email, SMS, voice, and video—including deepfake impersonations—mirroring the tactics used by modern attackers.

• Human Risk Scoring
  The platform evaluates how individuals and teams respond to simulated attacks, helping security leaders identify high-risk roles, departments, and behaviors.

• Personalized Security Training
  Employees receive targeted, contextual training based on their actual risk exposure, rather than generic awareness modules.

• Continuous Adaptation
  As attack methods evolve, Adaptive’s simulations update automatically, ensuring organizations stay ahead of emerging threat patterns.

This approach allows companies to move beyond “checkbox compliance” and toward measurable, real-world resilience.

Growing Enterprise Adoption

Adaptive Security’s technology is already being adopted by more than 500 organizations, including major enterprises across technology, finance, manufacturing, and entertainment. Customers such as PayPal, Bose, Figma, Vimeo, Ramp, and professional sports organizations have turned to Adaptive to address AI-driven social engineering risks.

This rapid customer growth highlights a key trend: enterprises are recognizing that employee behavior is now one of the most critical attack surfaces—and they need tools that provide visibility and control over that risk.

AI: Both the Threat and the Defense

One of the most compelling aspects of Adaptive Security’s model is its strategic use of AI to fight AI-enabled threats. While generative AI has empowered attackers, it also enables defenders to simulate threats with unprecedented realism.

Adaptive leverages AI not to replace human judgment, but to enhance it—giving security teams clearer insights into how attacks actually succeed and where defenses fail. This balance between automation and human awareness is becoming increasingly essential in modern security strategies.

How Adaptive Plans to Use the New Funding

With $81 million in fresh capital, Adaptive Security plans to accelerate growth across several key areas:

• Product Innovation: Expanding simulation realism, executive-level risk analytics, and multi-channel attack modeling

• Talent Expansion: Hiring top engineering, AI, and security experts to strengthen R&D

• Enterprise Scale: Supporting larger global customers with advanced integrations and compliance needs

• Market Expansion: Extending its reach across industries and international markets

These initiatives position Adaptive to become a category-defining platform in human-centric cybersecurity.

The Bigger Picture: A Shift in Cybersecurity Strategy

Adaptive Security’s rise reflects a broader shift in how organizations think about cyber defense. The question is no longer just “Are our systems secure?” but “Are our people prepared?”

As AI-powered attacks become more convincing and frequent, organizations that fail to address human risk will remain vulnerable—regardless of how advanced their technical controls may be.

Conclusion

Adaptive Security’s $81 million Series B funding is more than a financial milestone—it is a clear signal that the future of cybersecurity lies at the intersection of AI, human behavior, and continuous risk assessment. By redefining how organizations prepare for social engineering and AI-driven attacks, Adaptive is helping enterprises move from reactive defense to proactive resilience.

In a world where trust is increasingly exploited as an attack vector, Adaptive Security is building the tools needed to defend it.