Skip to main content

Gray Swan

Category: AI in Cybersecurity

AI security company providing adversarial testing, red-teaming, and runtime protection for enterprise AI deployments and frontier labs. Gray Swan was founded in 2023. The company is led by Matt Fredrikson. Based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. Team size: 11-50. Total funding raised: $45.5M. Latest round: Series A. Key investors include Wing Venture Capital, Madrona, Obvious Ventures, Snowflake Ventures, Hudson River Trading, Samsung Next, Magarac Venture Partners, Pillar VC.

Founded
2023
Headquarters
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
Team size
11-50
Total funding
$45.5M

Value proposition

Comprehensive AI security platform that combines pre-deployment adversarial testing (Shade), runtime protection (Cygnal), and a global red-teaming community of 15,000+ researchers (Arena) to identify and block AI vulnerabilities before attackers can exploit them.

Products and solutions

Cygnal (runtime AI monitoring and protection - blocks adversarial inputs and unsafe outputs in production), Shade (automated adversarial red-teaming agent for pre-deployment and CI/CD testing), Arena (global AI red-teaming competition network with 15,000+ researchers), Adversarial Evaluation Services (custom benchmarks for frontier labs), AI Red-Teaming as a Service (dedicated adversarial assessment)

Unique value

Tests against attacks discovered by 15,000+ adversarial researchers—most of which haven't been published yet—rather than only known attack patterns, giving enterprises tomorrow's threat intelligence today.

Target customer

Enterprise organizations deploying AI agents and applications; frontier AI labs (model builders) needing pre-release safety evaluations; AI security researchers participating in red-teaming competitions.

Industries served

AI/ML (frontier model labs), Enterprise AI, Technology, Cloud Computing, Financial Services

Technology advantage

Built on a decade of pioneering adversarial ML research from CMU; cited in 11 frontier model system cards (Anthropic, OpenAI, Meta); network effects from 15,000+ red-teamers generating continuous threat intelligence; supported by Snowflake integration for native enterprise AI security.

How they differentiate

Unlike competitors that validate against known attacks, Gray Swan's threat intelligence comes from 15,000+ adversarial researchers continuously discovering novel vulnerabilities in Arena competitions. This offensive-informs-defense approach means they test against attacks most haven't seen yet. Also, they are the only AI security company trusted simultaneously by all major frontier labs as cited in model system cards.

Main competitors

Lakera, Mindgard, HiddenLayer, Protect AI (Recon), Robust Intelligence (acquired by Cisco), CalypsoAI

Key partnerships

Snowflake (native integration with Snowflake AI ecosystem), UK AISI (Agent Red-Teaming Challenge), cited in system cards of Anthropic, OpenAI, Meta, Google DeepMind

Notable customers

OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta, Google DeepMind, xAI, Snowflake, 20+ total customers across frontier labs and global enterprises

Major milestones

Founded September 2023 by CMU professors, Published foundational adversarial ML research, Launched Gray Swan Arena global red-teaming competition, Worked with OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta on pre-release model evaluations, Raised $5.5M seed round (2024), Raised $40M Series A co-led by Wing VC and Madrona (May 2026), Integrated with Snowflake AI ecosystem, Hired Rob Jenks as CSO (Jan 2026), Cited in 11+ frontier model system cards

Market positioning

The most trusted AI security provider for frontier labs, with unique access and relationships with every major AI model developer (OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta, Google DeepMind, xAI), positioning as the gold standard for adversarial AI evaluation and runtime protection.

Geographic focus

Global (headquartered in Pittsburgh, PA, USA; customers include US-based frontier labs and enterprises)

About Matt Fredrikson

Professor at Carnegie Mellon University; leading authority on AI safety and adversarial ML research; University of Wisconsin-Madison education.

Official website: