<p><strong>SANTA CLARA</strong> &#8212; Aurascape AI, a cybersecurity company, has closed an oversubscribed $12.8 million seed funding round, led by Mayfield Fund. Other investors and shareholders included Celesta Capital, StepStone Group and AISpace, as well as several industry leaders including Mark McLaughlin, former Chairman and CEO of Palo Alto Networks.</p>
<p>Aurascape is poised to transform cybersecurity from the ground up, leveraging patent-pending AI innovations to address the challenges exacerbated by the widespread enterprise adoption of AI. The company’s founding team is comprised of seasoned entrepreneurs and technologists from leading cybersecurity and AI companies such as Palo Alto Networks, Google, and Amazon. Collectively, the team has a stellar track record of creating market-leading products that have generated over $10 billion in revenue for multi-billion-dollar cybersecurity companies and unicorns. Aurascape AI draws inspiration from the emergence of Checkpoint during the internet’s infancy, Palo Alto Networks during the application explosion, and leading cybersecurity companies born in the cloud era.</p>
<p>“With the rise of AI, cybersecurity threats to enterprises have never been greater. Traditional solutions with AI add-ons and veneers are ineffective against rapidly expanding attack surfaces,” said Rajiv Khemani, Co-founder and CEO of Aurascape AI. “At Aurascape, we are building a ground-up, cloud-native cybersecurity solution with capabilities far beyond current architectures, to deliver unparalleled protection for enterprises.”</p>
<p>“We are thrilled to invest in Aurascape AI as it harnesses the disruptive potential of AI to reimagine cybersecurity,” said Navin Chaddha, Managing Partner at Mayfield. “At Mayfield, we have a people-first approach to investing, and we’re excited to back this world-class team with deep, proven expertise in AI and cybersecurity.”</p>
<p>“Aurascape AI boasts a team of industry veterans with extensive expertise in cybersecurity and AI,” added Mark McLaughlin, former Chairman and CEO of Palo Alto Networks. “I am excited by their pioneering work and potential to deliver transformative cybersecurity solutions for the AI era.”</p>
<p>“There is a critical need for AI-native security tools purpose-built to secure new Gen AI applications and increasing multimodal content,” said Sriram Viswanathan, Founding Managing Partner at Celesta. “Celesta Capital is excited to support Aurascape AI, its world-class team, and its leading-edge approach to cybersecurity.”</p>
<p>Aurascape AI is currently engaged in proof-of-concepts (POCs) with select customers and plans to unveil its first commercial product later in 2024. This funding will bolster Aurascape AI’s product development efforts and support its go-to-market plans, driving innovation at the intersection of cybersecurity and artificial intelligence.</p>

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