Guardio said it secured $40 million to combat AI-fueled internet scams, a round that pegs the company at a $1.1 billion valuation. Assaf Rappaport, the Wiz founder, participated, joined by returning investors ION Crossover Partners, Union Tech Ventures, Vintage Investment Partners, and others.
Since launching in 2018, the company has amassed $167 million across all funding. Guardio says its consumer security subscription protects digital accounts such as email and social profiles, now serving one million customers and producing annual recurring revenue of $150 million, which startups often use as a proxy for sales.
CEO Amos Peled said scammers are leaning into AI tools to run smarter, larger campaigns. "The cost of attacking someone has collapsed while the quality and scale of the attacks have exploded," Peled said in an interview. "With 20 bucks and a Claude membership, you can create an amazing phishing flow, you can clone voices of your loved ones to implement the scams with unlimited scale."
Capital is flowing into AI-flavored security more broadly. In August, Alice - partnering with Anthropic PBC and with Alphabet Inc.'s Google and Nvidia Corp. - secured $140 million. Bloomberg reported this week that Upwind Security is raising $300 million at a $3.8 billion valuation. On Wednesday, HiddenLayer, based in Texas, finalized a $100 million financing round.
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The takeaway is simple: attackers are getting cheaper AI tools, and defenders are getting fresh capital. Guardio sits at that intersection with scale, revenue, and a consumer focus. If you watch cybersecurity exposure in your holdings, note how fast money and momentum are gathering around AI-driven protection for everyday accounts.
