Manifold Raises $8 Million for AI Detection and Response

Cybersecurity startup Manifold today announced raising $8 million in a seed funding round led by Costanoa Ventures. Cherry Ventures, Rain Capital, Modern Technical Fund, and several angel investors also participated in the investment round. Founded in 2025, California-based Manifold has built an agentic AI Detection and Response (AIDR) platform that provides runtime visibility into agents’ activities. Manifold provides security teams with real-time maps of the AI agents running in the organization’s environment, with information on the tools they call, the systems they access, and the actions they take. The platform is deployed on existing infrastructure to uncover agents’ connections to MCP servers, databases, and external systems, and flag behavioral anomalies in real time. By providing visibility into all AI agents and their acquired access, capabilities, and exposures, Manifold enables security teams to immediately quarantine, remediate, or terminate rogue agents. The startup will use the fresh funding to fuel the development of its AIDR platform. “Every developer today has coding agents on their laptop with access to source code, production systems, and CI/CD pipelines connected to an expanding ecosystem of MCP servers, skills, and third-party tools that no one is inspecting,” said Manifold CEO and co-founder Neal Swaelens. “With the rise of Claude Cowork, OpenClaw, and others, that same pattern is about to hit every knowledge worker. These agents don’t just talk — they execute. First-generation AI security tooling was not designed to solve for this. That’s the problem Manifold was built to solve,” Swaelens added. Related: Tech Giants Invest $12.5 Million in Open Source Security Related: Surf AI Raises $57 Million for Agentic Security Operations Platform Related: Tracebit Raises $20M for Cloud-Native Deception Technology Related: Bold Security Emerges From Stealth With $40 Million in Funding WRITTEN BY Ionut Arghire Ionut Arghire is an international correspondent for SecurityWeek. More from Ionut Arghire Tech Giants Invest $12.5 Million in Open Source Security Robotic Surgery Giant Intuitive Discloses Cyberattack 174 Vulnerabilities Targeted by RondoDox Botnet Tracebit Raises $20M for Cloud-Native Deception Technology CISA Flags Year-Old Wing FTP Vulnerability as Exploited Security Firm Executive Targeted in Sophisticated Phishing Attack China-Linked Hackers Hit Asian Militaries in Patient Espionage Operation Threat Actor Targeting VPN Users in New Credential Theft Campaign Latest News Cloud Security Startup Native Exits Stealth With $42 Million in Funding ‘DarkSword’ iOS Exploit Kit Used by State-Sponsored Hackers, Spyware Vendors Virtual Summit Today: Supply Chain & Third-Party Risk Summit EU Sanctions Chinese, Iranian Firms Supporting Hacking Operations Shadow AI Risk: How SaaS Apps Are Quietly Enabling Massive Breaches Iranian Hackers Likely Used Malware-Stolen Credentials in Stryker Breach Apple Debuts Background Security Improvements With Fresh WebKit Patches Researcher Discovers 4th WhatsApp View Once Bypass; Meta Won’t Patch Trending Webinar: Securing Fragile OT In An Exposed World March 10, 2026 Get a candid look at the current OT threat landscape as we move past "doom and gloom" to discuss the mechanics of modern OT exposure. Register Webinar: Why Automated Pentesting Alone Is Not Enough April 7, 2026 Join our live diagnostic session to expose hidden coverage gaps and shift from flawed tool-level evaluations to a comprehensive, program-level validation discipline. Register People on the Move Nudge Security has appointed Patrick Dillon as Chief Revenue Officer. Arctic Wolf has named Will May as its Chief Revenue Officer. Palo Alto Networks has named Danielle Gonzalez as its new Chief People Officer. More People On The Move Expert Insights The Human IOC: Why Security Professionals Struggle With Social Vetting Applying SOC-level rigor to the rumors, politics, and 'human intel' can make or break a security team. (Joshua Goldfarb) How To 10x Your Vulnerability Management Program In The Agentic Era The evolution of vulnerability management in the agentic era is characterized by continuous telemetry, contextual prioritization and the ultimate goal of agentic remediation. (Nadir Izrael) SIM Swaps Expose A Critical Flaw In Identity Security SIM swap attacks exploit misplaced trust in phone numbers and human processes to bypass authentication controls and seize high-value accounts. (Torsten George) Four Risks Boards Cannot Treat As Background Noise The goal isn’t about preventing every attack but about keeping the business running when attacks succeed. (Steve Durbin) How To Eliminate The Technical Debt Of Insecure AI-Assisted Software Development Developers must view AI as a collaborator to be closely monitored, rather than an autonomous entity to be unleashed. Without such a mindset, crippling tech debt is inevitable. (Matias Madou) Flipboard Reddit Whatsapp Email