European cybersecurity scale-up Aikido has raised 60 million dollars in a Series B funding round, reaching a valuation of 1 billion dollars and securing its place among the continent’s fastest-growing tech unicorns.
The round was led by DST Global, with participation from existing and new investors including PSG Equity, Singular and Notion Capital.
Founded just three years ago, Aikido focuses on simplifying software security for developers by bringing multiple security functions – such as code, cloud and runtime protection – into a single platform. The company positions itself as an alternative to traditional, fragmented security tools that often overwhelm engineering teams with alerts and complexity.
According to Aikido, the fresh capital will be used to accelerate product development and expand its vision of ‘self-securing software’, where security testing and remediation are increasingly automated. A recent product launch, Aikido Attack, applies AI-driven penetration testing to identify and validate vulnerabilities at machine speed, with built-in remediation.
The company says its platform is now used by more than 100,000 teams worldwide, including organisations such as Premier League, SoundCloud and Revolut. Over the past year, Aikido reports a fivefold increase in revenue and a tripling of its customer base.
The unicorn milestone is also notable for Europe’s tech ecosystem. In a cybersecurity market long dominated by US and Israeli players, Aikido’s rapid growth highlights Europe’s ability to build globally competitive security software companies.
With a team of around 180 employees, Aikido plans to continue investing in automation and AI as software development accelerates and cyber threats increase. Financial details beyond the headline funding amount were not disclosed.
At the Belgian M&A Awards of 2024, Aikido Security won the M&A Award for Best Venture Capital Deal of the Year.
