Runlayer
Last updated: May 29, 2026
Israeli-founded enterprise AI security platform providing comprehensive threat detection, observability, and access controls for Model Context Protocol (MCP) deployments across enterprise systems.
Visit WebsiteCompany Overview
Runlayer emerged from stealth in late 2025 as a specialized cybersecurity platform addressing a critical gap in the rapidly expanding MCP (Model Context Protocol) ecosystem. The company was founded by Andrew Berman (CEO, serial entrepreneur and former Director of AI at Zapier), Tal Peretz (co-founder, machine learning lead in the Israeli Air Force), and Vitor Balocco (co-founder, former staff AI engineer at Zapier). The founding team brings deep expertise in both AI infrastructure scaling and hands-on MCP security vulnerabilities.
The core problem Runlayer solves is acute: the Model Context Protocol, released by Anthropic in 2024 as the industry standard for AI agents to autonomously interact with enterprise systems, was deployed with minimal built-in security. This architectural choice exposed enterprises to well-documented vulnerabilities including prompt injection attacks, unauthorized data access, privilege escalation, and lateral movement by compromised agents. High-profile incidents affecting GitHub, Asana, and other major companies using MCP highlighted the urgency of a comprehensive security solution. Runlayer's platform functions as a secure runtime gateway, intercepting all MCP interactions between agents and enterprise systems while providing real-time threat detection, granular identity-based access controls, system-wide observability, and forensic auditability.
Technically, Runlayer implements a layered security architecture combining protocol inspection, behavioral anomaly detection, and orchestrated policy enforcement. The platform integrates tightly with enterprise identity providers (Okta, Entra, etc.), logs all agent activity across organizational systems, detects suspicious patterns and privilege misuse, and enables granular permission scoping per agent, user, and system. The platform is deployable in customer VPCs or in Runlayer's managed cloud, providing both air-gapped and hybrid deployment options critical for defense, financial, and government sectors.
Market traction has been exceptional: within four months of stealth operations, Runlayer acquired dozens of enterprise customers including unicorn companies Instacart, Gusto, dbt Labs, and public companies like Opendoor. This rapid adoption reflects both the urgency of the MCP security problem and the maturity of Runlayer's solution. The company raised $11 million in seed funding in late 2025 led by Khosla Ventures' Keith Rabois and Felicis, with notable investors including David Soria Parra (creator of the MCP protocol at Anthropic) joining as an advisor and angel investor. Series A funding followed in 2026, positioning Runlayer as a market leader.
From a competitive and defense perspective, Runlayer occupies a unique position at the intersection of AI infrastructure, enterprise cybersecurity, and critical system protection. As agentic AI becomes the default automation layer for government, defense, financial, and energy systems, securing the interface between autonomous agents and sensitive infrastructure becomes a national security priority. Runlayer's deep technical understanding of MCP vulnerabilities, strong relationships with the Anthropic protocol team, and enterprise-grade security controls position it as the likely industry standard for MCP governance. The company also has meaningful dual-use relevance: the same controls securing commercial AI agents against prompt injection and unauthorized data access are applicable to defensive systems protecting military and intelligence operations against AI-assisted attacks.
Dual-Use Assessment
Runlayer's MCP security, threat detection, and governance capabilities serve both commercial enterprises and defense/intelligence infrastructure. The platform's ability to audit, control, and restrict autonomous agent access to sensitive systems has direct application in protecting military command systems, intelligence networks, critical infrastructure, and defense supply chains from prompt injection attacks, unauthorized data exfiltration, and lateral movement by compromised or adversarial AI agents.
Strategic Fit Assessment
Priority signal means this entry may be worth researching within the Claw & Talon thesis. It does not mean investable, suitable, endorsed, available, or likely to produce returns.
Runlayer operates in a large, urgent, and nascent market segment (MCP security) with strong early traction (dozens of unicorn/public company customers in 4 months), exceptional team pedigree (Zapier, Israeli Air Force, Anthropic), and alignment with both commercial and strategic defense requirements. The company is well-positioned to become the category-defining standard for AI agent governance.
Strategic Value to U.S.-Israel Alliance
Runlayer represents a critical control point in the emerging agentic AI infrastructure layer. As autonomous agents become the primary automation interface for enterprise and government systems, controlling the security and governance of agent-system interactions becomes strategically essential. Strong Israeli tech heritage, technical depth in AI safety/security, and early market leadership position the company as a key player in the next wave of defense and resilience innovation.
Key Technologies
- Model Context Protocol (MCP) gateway and inspection
- Real-time behavioral anomaly detection for AI agents
- Granular identity-based access control and policy enforcement
- Multi-system observability and forensic auditability
- Enterprise identity provider integration (Okta, Entra, etc.)
- Prompt injection and privilege escalation detection
Use Cases & Applications
- Securing AI agents accessing sensitive enterprise data and systems
- Preventing unauthorized agent access to financial, medical, or strategic information
- Detecting and blocking prompt injection and agent-level privilege escalation attacks
- Governance and compliance auditing for regulated industries (finance, healthcare, defense)
- Protecting critical infrastructure (energy, water, telecommunications) from AI-assisted attacks
- Multi-tenant SaaS environments requiring per-agent or per-customer isolation
- Government and defense systems integrating commercial AI technologies
Sources and verification
This profile is based on public-source research, Claw & Talon curation, and editorial judgment. Inclusion does not imply endorsement, partnership, investment, or a recommendation to transact. Readers should still confirm current status, customers, funding, and product claims before relying on this profile.
Public sources
The links below are visible public references used for source discipline around company identity, status, funding, customer, acquisition, public-company, or other material claims where available.
- MCP AI agent security startup Runlayer launches with 8 unicorns, $11M from Khosla's Keith Rabois and Felicis Official TechCrunch launch announcement with funding details, customer confirmations (Instacart, Gusto, dbt Labs, Opendoor), founding team background, and Keith Rabois quote.
- Runlayer Emerges from Stealth With $11M to Secure the MCP Era Detailed technical overview of MCP vulnerabilities (prompt injection, unauthorized access), Runlayer's threat detection architecture, founding team expertise (Tal Peretz's Air Force background, Vitor Balocco's Zapier role), and advisor David Soria Parra.
- Runlayer Raises $11M to Scale Enterprise MCP Infrastructure Official Runlayer blog post on seed funding, founders' vision for MCP security gap, platform capabilities (threat detection, observability, granular permissions), and 2026 roadmap.
- Runlayer named to Rising in Cyber 2026 Recognition by Notable Capital's Rising in Cyber 2026 list as a peer-voted emerging leader in cybersecurity innovation; verifies market recognition and team credibility.
- Official website Primary public reference for company identity, positioning, and current web presence.
- Profile update timestamp Last updated in the Claw & Talon database on May 29, 2026.
Investor Lens
What this entry is
Private startup
Why it may matter
Runlayer may matter as a Cybersecurity entry with not currently an investable standalone company for Israeli technology research.
How an independent investor should read this
Not currently an investable standalone company. Read this profile as a starting point for independent verification, not as a recommendation or suitability assessment.
Evidence to verify
- Verify current status
- Verify traction
- Verify cap table/funding
- Verify technical claims
- Verify regulatory/export-control issues
- Verify customer concentration
Main investor questions
- Is the company currently active, independently financeable, and raising or not raising on terms you can verify?
- What customer, revenue, product, and technical evidence supports the company story?
- What valuation, cap table, rights, and follow-on assumptions would govern any private exposure?
- Does the dual-use claim map to actual commercial and government/defense/resilience buyer evidence?
- What evidence would change the thesis or show that the profile is stale?
What not to infer
- Inclusion does not imply endorsement.
- Inclusion does not imply allocation availability or current fundraising.
- Scores do not indicate investment suitability or expected returns.
- Strategic importance does not automatically imply venture return potential.
Diligence questions
- What evidence verifies Runlayer's current customer traction, deployment status, and revenue concentration?
- Which technical claims are independently demonstrable today, and which remain roadmap or pilot-stage assertions?
- Where does the product create real defense, intelligence, critical-infrastructure, or emergency-response value beyond ordinary commercial adoption?
- How does the platform integrate into existing SOC, cloud, identity, or compliance workflows without adding operational burden?
- What would disconfirm the priority signal: weak customer references, thin technical differentiation, poor capital efficiency, or limited allied-market access?
Related sector
See the Cybersecurity sector page for market context, related subcategories, and other Israeli companies in this part of the database.
Related companies
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