Analysis
Securing the Identities Behind AI Agents
Obsidian Security raised an $85 million Series D led by Crescent Cove Advisors, crossing a $1.1 billion valuation and becoming the latest cybersecurity unicorn built around AI-era risk, according to SecurityWeek. Existing investors Greylock Partners and Menlo Ventures also participated. The Palo Alto-based company, founded in 2017 by veterans of Carbon Black and Cylance, has now raised more than $200 million total, following a $90 million Series C in April 2022.
“Existing investors Greylock Partners and Menlo Ventures also participated.”
Obsidian's product secures non-human identities -- API keys, service accounts, and increasingly AI agents -- across third-party enterprise applications, a category that barely existed as a budget line two years ago and now sits at the center of enterprise AI risk conversations. Per Axios, the company counts more than 100 customers spending over $100,000 annually, with 14 spending above $1 million, and 60 of the Fortune 500 among its base.
The competitive set includes identity-security incumbents like Okta and CyberArk expanding into agent security, alongside newer AI-native security startups all chasing the same enterprise budget line. Obsidian's bet is that non-human identity risk is different enough from human identity risk to justify a dedicated platform rather than a bolt-on feature from an existing vendor.
The counterweight worth noting: AI-agent security is a genuinely new risk category, but it is also the most crowded fundraising narrative in enterprise security right now, and not every well-funded entrant will still be independent in three years. What to watch: whether Obsidian discloses net revenue retention alongside its next round, the metric that would separate real expansion from logo-count growth.