depthfirst Raises $80 Million in Series B Funding Round
depthfirst, a San Francisco-based company specializing in AI-driven cybersecurity solutions, announced it has raised $80 million in a Series B funding round. The company’s platform is designed to understand code, business logic, and infrastructure to identify vulnerabilities, reduce false positives, and offer actionable fixes for developers.
Key Investors and Leadership
The funding round was led by Meritech Capital, with additional participation from Forerunner Ventures, The House Fund, Accel, Box Group, Liquid 2 Ventures, Alt Capital, and Mantis VC. Co-founders Andrea Michi, who serves as the CTO, and Daniele Perito, the Executive Chairman, are at the helm of depthfirst’s strategic direction.
AI-Native Security Platform
Depthfirst is addressing the growing challenge of securing software systems in an era where development cycles are rapid, and cyber threats are increasingly sophisticated. The company's platform employs custom AI agents to analyze and interpret codebases, infrastructure, and workflows, aiming to detect complex vulnerabilities that traditional security tools often miss.
New Security Model: dfs-mini1
In conjunction with the funding announcement, depthfirst introduced its first in-house security model, dfs-mini1. Initially focused on securing cryptocurrency smart contracts, the model leverages an open-source foundation and has been enhanced through reinforcement learning in security-specific environments. It has shown promising results on OpenAI’s EVMBench, a benchmark for identifying vulnerabilities in smart contracts.
Use of Funds
The newly acquired capital will be allocated towards expanding depthfirst’s AI research team, developing additional specialized security models, and accelerating the enterprise adoption of its platform. The company aims to scale its operations to meet the demands of high-stakes applications across various domains.
Industry Implications
Depthfirst’s approach reflects a broader industry shift towards AI-driven solutions in cybersecurity. "Recent public-market reactions suggest investors are starting to recognize that AI will disrupt the legacy security stack," said Daniele Perito, emphasizing the need for security-specific models optimized for real-world applications.
The company reports that its platform is already in use by a range of Fortune 500 companies and high-growth technology firms, with approximately 80 percent of its recommended fixes being accepted and merged by developers.