Protect AI, a Seattle-based cybersecurity startup is set to be acquired by cybersecurity giant Palo Alto Network. Protect AI was founded in 2022 to help companies monitor the various layers and components of machine learning systems. Founded by former engineering leaders at Amazon and Oracle, the company serves Fortune 500 companies across finance, healthcare, and government sectors. Protect AI raised a $60 million Series B round in 2024, at a reported valuation of $400 million.
While the terms of the deal were not disclosed, sources say the deal is valued at over $500 million, according to GeekWire.
“By extending our AI security capabilities to include Protect AI’s innovative solutions for Securing for AI, businesses will be able to build AI applications with comprehensive security,” said Anand Oswal, senior vice president and general manager of network security at Palo Alto Networks, in a release.
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Palo Alto Network has been working towards improving its artificial intelligence systems in order to confront increasingly sophisticated cyberthreats. The use of rapidly built ecosystems of AI models by large enterprises and government organizations has created new vulnerabilities. The company said those risks require purpose-built defenses beyond conventional cybersecurity.
This acquisition would fold Protect AI’s solutions and team into Palo Alto’s newly announced Prisma AIRS platform. Protect AI’s CEO Ian Swanson said joining Palo Alto would allow the company to “scale our mission of making the AI landscape more secure for users and organizations of all sizes.” Swanson co-founded Protect AI with Badar Ahmed, a former engineering leader at Oracle and DataScience, and Daryan Dehghanpisheh, a former leader at AWS.
The company’s founders and employees are expected to join Palo Alto once the deal closes, joining a number of other cybersecurity startups that are based in the Seattle region, or at least have a presence there, including Chainguard, Dropzone AI, Oleria, SpecterOps, Staris, and several others.