Adaptive Security Raises $81M Series B Funding Led by Bain Capital Ventures

Adaptive Security has successfully secured an $81 million Series B funding round, spearheaded by Bain Capital Ventures, with contributions from NVentures, OpenAI Startup Fund, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Abstract Ventures, Capital One Ventures, and Citi Ventures. This latest funding marks the third financial backing announcement from Adaptive this year, propelling the total capital raised to $146.5 million. The company's rapid fundraising activities reflect the growing concern and recognition from investors and customers regarding AI-powered cyber threats.

Since its public launch in January 2025, Adaptive has amassed over 500 enterprise customers and boasts a remarkable NPS score of 94. Notable clients include PayPal, Xerox, Bose, the National Hockey League, the Professional Golfers' Association, Figma, Ramp, Vimeo, TaylorMade Golf, and Perplexity.

The company was established by Brian Long and Andrew Jones, who noticed the swift evolution of AI-enabled impersonation from a niche risk to a practical issue for businesses, employees, and consumers. The founders, who previously built Attentive to a $500 million annual revenue, recognized the inadequacy of legacy security training in addressing advanced generative AI deception. Brian Long, CEO and co-founder of Adaptive Security, emphasized the significant shift in AI impersonations, which now pose a substantial everyday threat. More than 95% of successful cyber breaches are attributed to social engineering, with the onset of malicious activity through various channels such as phone calls, text messages, and video chat. The rise in deepfake incidents has been exponential, with a reported increase of over 17 times from 2023 to 2024.

Adaptive has observed a surge in AI deepfake activity, with over half of its customer discussions involving reports of deepfake incidents. To combat these threats, the company employs AI simulations to replicate deepfake and impersonation scenarios, enabling the identification of weak controls and tailored training based on individual employee responses. The platform also features automated threat triage and AI-driven executive risk scoring to help organizations pinpoint their most vulnerable teams and processes.

Notably, the company has garnered strong support from leading AI companies and investors, including NVIDIA and OpenAI Startup Fund. This backing signifies the growing recognition among prominent AI researchers regarding the security and safety implications of generative models. Enrique Salem, partner at Bain Capital Ventures, expressed confidence in Adaptive, citing the team's capability in developing and scaling category-defining products to address the surge in AI-enabled threat vectors.

Adaptive Security specializes in offering AI-powered social engineering prevention solutions, focusing on safeguarding against deepfake personas, AI-driven phishing, and multi-channel social engineering threats through advanced AI simulations, real-time risk assessment, and security awareness training.