Cybersecurity startup Runlayer this week emerged from stealth mode with $11 million in seed funding to secure AI tools across enterprises.
The investment round was led by Khosla Ventures general partner Keith Rabois and Felicis, with additional support from several angel investors.
Founded in 2025, New York-based Runlayer seeks to enable AI transformation with enterprise controls. It operated in stealth mode for four months and claims to have signed dozens of customers, including eight unicorns.
The startup focuses on the Model Context Protocol (MCP) standard, which is being widely supported by every major AI tool. In this regard, Anthropic’s David Soria Parra, who helped build the MCP protocol, is joining Runlayer as an advisor.
Acting as a secure control layer, Runlayer’s platform monitors AI access and usage, so it can block threats in real time. The solution can be deployed on customers’ infrastructure or run from Runlayer’s cloud.
The platform enables organizations to configure and deploy pre-vetted MCP servers across their environments, integrates with existing tools, and logs all MCP calls across local and remote servers.
Runlayer provides threat detection models tailored for MCP attack vectors, and supports integration with existing identity providers for fine-grained permissions. It offers control and visibility to security teams and increased productivity to engineers.
“AI transformation is happening. Security can be the catalyst instead of the blocker. CISOs want to say yes to AI, they want to push their companies forward, and they need the infrastructure to do it safely. Runlayer provides that infrastructure,” Runlayer co-founder and CEO Andrew Berman said.
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