What happened
Daylight Security, a startup specializing in AI-driven managed detection and response (MDR), has raised an $80 million Series B round. The funding was led by Growth Equity at Goldman Sachs Alternatives, with participation from Okta Ventures and existing investors including Bain Capital Ventures, Craft Ventures, Vintage Investment Partners, and Maple Capital. This brings the company's total funding to $120 million. According to Globes, the round was priced at a valuation of approximately $400 million, though Daylight did not officially disclose this figure. The company reports that its revenue has grown more than 40-fold over the past year, driven by adoption from large enterprises and AI-focused companies. Named customers include Miro, Lovable, LastPass, Rogo, and dLocal. This round follows a $33 million Series A led by Craft Ventures and a $7 million seed round. Daylight plans to use the capital to expand its presence in the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia-Pacific, as well as to hire additional security engineers.
Daylight Security has completed an $80 million Series B funding round, led by Growth Equity at Goldman Sachs Alternatives. New investor Okta Ventures joined existing backers Bain Capital Ventures, Craft Ventures, Vintage Investment Partners, and Maple Capital. This investment brings Daylight's total funding to $120 million. While the company did not officially disclose its valuation, Globes reported, citing sources, that the round was priced at approximately $400 million.
The company states that its revenue has grown more than 40-fold over the past year, driven by large enterprises and AI-focused companies. However, Daylight has not provided a specific revenue figure. Named customers include Miro, Lovable, LastPass, Rogo, and dLocal. This Series B follows a $33 million Series A led by Craft Ventures and an earlier $7 million seed round.
Daylight's core product involves AI agents that handle most routine detection, investigation, and response work in managed detection and response (MDR). Security engineers at Daylight build and tune these agents for each customer and handle decisions requiring human judgment. Customers can choose to hand over security operations entirely, run them jointly with an internal team, or work with Daylight engineers embedded alongside their staff.
The company's Aura platform allows teams to investigate security issues in natural language over a central data lake, a feature Daylight began offering as a managed service in June. Daylight claims its system detects threats in seconds and contains them within minutes, up to 10 times faster than traditional managed security providers. It also monitors customers' own AI systems, investigating prompt-injection alerts and risky Model Context Protocol connections alongside identity, endpoint, and cloud activity.
Co-founder and CEO Hagai Shapira, an early product leader at Torq, founded Daylight in early 2025 with Eldad Rudich, Torq's first employee and former vice president of R&D. Both founders served in Israeli military intelligence. Daylight currently has 80 employees, 43 of whom are based in Israel. The company plans to use the new funding to expand in the U.S., enter Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia-Pacific, and hire more security engineers.
Why it matters
This funding round highlights the rapid commercialization of AI agents in cybersecurity operations. By automating routine detection, investigation, and response tasks, Daylight addresses the significant talent shortage in the security industry. The reported 40-fold revenue growth suggests strong market demand for AI-native security solutions that can operate at machine speed. The involvement of major investors like Goldman Sachs and Okta Ventures signals institutional confidence in the viability of AI-driven MDR. Furthermore, Daylight's focus on monitoring AI systems themselves, including prompt-injection alerts and Model Context Protocol connections, positions it at the intersection of traditional security and emerging AI-specific threats. This development is significant for enterprises looking to modernize their security operations without proportionally increasing headcount, offering a scalable alternative to traditional human-heavy MDR services.
The $80 million raise underscores the growing investor confidence in AI-native cybersecurity solutions. The 40-fold revenue growth reported by Daylight indicates a strong market pull for automated security operations, particularly among large enterprises and AI-focused companies that face complex, fast-moving threat landscapes.
Daylight's approach addresses a critical pain point in the security industry: the shortage of skilled security engineers. By using AI agents for routine tasks, the company can scale its services without a linear increase in headcount, potentially offering more cost-effective and faster response times than traditional MDR providers.
The company's focus on monitoring AI systems themselves, including prompt-injection alerts and Model Context Protocol connections, is a forward-looking move. As enterprises increasingly deploy AI agents and models, the security risks associated with these technologies are becoming a primary concern. Daylight's ability to address these specific AI-related threats positions it as a key player in the emerging field of AI security.
The participation of Okta Ventures, the venture arm of Okta, suggests a strategic alignment with identity and access management, which is a critical component of modern security architectures. This partnership could enhance Daylight's ability to integrate its AI-driven MDR services with broader identity security solutions.
The expansion plans into Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia-Pacific indicate Daylight's ambition to become a global player. This geographic expansion will test the company's ability to adapt its AI agents to different regulatory environments and threat landscapes, potentially setting a precedent for how AI-driven security services can be deployed globally.
Interactive Mechanism: How It Actually Works
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crm_get_transaction(id='4092').An agent must create a draft calendar event for Tuesday at 2 p.m. Which evidence would establish the requested result?
What to watch next
Monitor Daylight's expansion into new geographic markets, particularly Europe and Asia-Pacific, to assess its ability to scale its infrastructure globally. Watch for further details on the technical capabilities of its Aura platform, specifically how it handles natural language investigations and integrates with existing security stacks. Observe whether other major MDR providers announce similar AI-agent-driven services in response to Daylight's growth. Additionally, track the adoption of Daylight's AI-specific security monitoring features, such as prompt-injection detection, as AI systems become more prevalent in enterprise environments. The company's ability to maintain its claimed speed advantages over traditional providers will be a key metric for its continued success.
Track Daylight's progress in expanding into new geographic markets, particularly Europe and Asia-Pacific. Success in these regions will depend on the company's ability to navigate local regulations and adapt its AI agents to diverse threat environments.
Monitor the technical details of Daylight's Aura platform, especially its natural language investigation capabilities. As more enterprises adopt AI, the ability to interact with security tools in natural language could become a standard expectation, and Daylight's implementation will be a key .
Watch for competitive responses from other major MDR providers. If Daylight's AI-driven approach proves successful, competitors may accelerate their own AI initiatives, leading to a broader shift in the MDR market toward automation.
Observe the adoption of Daylight's AI-specific security monitoring features, such as prompt-injection detection. As AI systems become more prevalent in enterprise environments, the demand for specialized security tools to protect these systems will likely grow, and Daylight's early focus on this area could give it a significant advantage.
Keep an eye on Daylight's hiring plans and the composition of its workforce. The company plans to hire more security engineers, and the balance between human expertise and AI automation will be a key factor in its ability to maintain high-quality security operations at scale.