Dreadnode, an emerging startup specializing in offensive AI security, has recently secured a $14m Series A funding round.
According to Security Week, the investment was led by a notable consortium including Decibel, Next Frontier Capital, In-Q-Tel (IQT), Sands Capital, and Indie VC.
The company, co-founded by former NVIDIA AI red-team lead Will Pearce and ex-NetSPI VP of Research Nick Landers, positions itself at the forefront of offensive machine learning. Dreadnode provides tooling designed for enterprise defenders to safely simulate potential exploits in cutting-edge AI models.
The new capital injection is earmarked for driving innovation and advancing go-to-market strategies for Dreadnode’s core products, Strikes and Spyglass. Strikes offers a training ground for AI agents, presenting real-world scenarios to test and improve their resilience against cyber threats. Conversely, Spyglass serves as a red-teaming tool to assess and optimize AI applications already in deployment, identifying vulnerabilities such as prompt injection and data poisoning.
Furthermore, Dreadnode also provides Crucible, an AI hacking sandbox that allows security practitioners to test, learn, and advance their skills in AI red teaming. This platform completes the lifecycle of offensive AI security services offered by the company, from training-phase stress tests to deployment-phase evaluations.
“We’re equipping practitioners with the tools required to explore what’s possible when AI is applied — at scale — to offense,” said Will Pearce. “We’ve seen what AI is capable of across other domains—why should offensive security be different?”
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