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Operant AI

Category: AI in Cybersecurity

A comprehensive runtime security platform providing '3D' protection across APIs, cloud-native applications, and autonomous AI agents to stop live attacks. Operant AI was founded in 2021. The company is led by Vrajesh Bhavsar. Based in San Francisco, USA. Team size: 11-50. Total funding raised: $13.5M. Latest round: Series A. Key investors include Felicis Ventures, SineWave Ventures, Alumni Ventures, Massive, Calm Ventures, Gaingels, Two Culture Capital.

Founded
2021
Headquarters
San Francisco, USA
Team size
11-50
Total funding
$13.5M

Value proposition

Provides real-time, multi-layer defense that secures the entire AI and application lifecycle—from infrastructure to APIs—without requiring code changes or complex integrations.

Products and solutions

3D Runtime Protection Platform (Core infrastructure and app security), Agent Protector (Specialized security for autonomous AI agents), Adaptive API Security (Real-time discovery and protection of internal/external APIs), AI Guardrails & Governance (Compliance and safety controls for LLM deployments)

Unique value

Operant AI is the first to offer '3D' visibility and protection, which simultaneously secures the interaction between infrastructure, application code, and APIs in a single runtime view.

Target customer

Enterprise CISOs, DevSecOps teams, and organizations deploying autonomous AI agents or large-scale cloud-native infrastructures.

Industries served

Cybersecurity, Artificial Intelligence, Cloud Computing, Financial Services, Enterprise Software

Technology advantage

Utilizes a 'blueprinting' approach that maps every connection and data flow in real-time, allowing the system to block unauthorized 'agentic' behaviors and zero-day exploits that traditional perimeter or static security tools miss.

How they differentiate

Operant AI provides '3D' runtime protection that simultaneously secures infrastructure, application code, and APIs. Unlike static scanners, it uses a 'blueprinting' approach to map data flows in real-time and specifically targets 'agentic' behaviors in autonomous AI systems.

Main competitors

HiddenLayer, Protect AI, Lakera, Wiz (AI-SPM)

Key partnerships

Felicis Ventures & SineWave Ventures (Lead Investors), Gartner (Recognized as a Representative Vendor for AI Security), Major Cloud Service Providers (AWS, Azure, GCP integration partners)

Notable customers

Enterprise CISOs, Fortune 500 Financial Services (undisclosed), Cloud-native Tech Scale-ups

Major milestones

Raised $10M Series A in September 2024 to scale AI security operations., Launched 'Agent Protector' in February 2025 to secure autonomous AI agents at scale., Achieved '3D' visibility patent-pending technology for runtime API and AI defense., Named a Representative Vendor in Gartner's AI Security research.

Growth metrics

Recognized as a Gartner Representative Vendor for AI Security; expanded product suite from cloud-native security to specialized AI Agent protection within 12 months of Series A.

Market positioning

Specialized AI Runtime Security (AIRS) and AI Security Posture Management (AI-SPM) provider for cloud-native enterprises.

Geographic focus

Global, with a primary focus on North American enterprise and tech sectors.

Patents and IP

The leadership team holds over 8 patents in distributed systems and security; the company utilizes proprietary runtime defense algorithms (specific company-filed patents are typically listed as 'pending' in early-stage filings).

About Vrajesh Bhavsar

Vrajesh Bhavsar is a veteran security engineer and entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience. He spent over a decade at Apple, where he was a foundational engineer for core security technologies including the Secure Enclave, iOS/macOS Data Protection, and Dynamic Tracing. He later founded the Machine Learning business unit at ARM and held technical leadership roles at Qualcomm and Scaled Inference. He holds a Masters in Computer Science from USC and multiple patents in distributed systems and security.

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