Sequoia doubles down on Cymphony as AI agents create new enterprise security risks

Balkansky acknowledged that scores of companies are already positioning themselves around AI and agent security. He said, however, that Cymphony’s approach stands out by treating identity and data security as part of the same problem.

That distinction, Dekel and Balkansky both argue, becomes more important as companies deploy more AI agents across their operations. Unlike human employees with relatively stable roles and permissions, agents can take different routes to complete a task, acquire new capabilities, and, in some cases, create other agents, making their access harder to govern with security systems designed around people.

“Agents are very different actors,” Balkansky said, arguing that existing identity tools were not designed for agents that can change their behavior and capabilities at runtime.

Cymphony is also in a race against established security companies that are expanding their offerings around identity, data, and AI, including Microsoft, Okta, CyberArk, Wiz, and Varonis.

Dekel told TechCrunch that Cymphony is already replacing some existing security products at customers. At one enterprise, he said without disclosing specifics, the company helped consolidate two existing tools and eliminated the need to buy a third.

However, Balkansky sees Cymphony’s role, at least for now, as more complementary than replacement. “Nobody’s going to get rid of their Okta,” he said, adding that customers are largely adopting Cymphony as an additional layer today. Over time, however, he told TechCrunch that the startup could begin displacing some point solutions, particularly in areas such as data loss prevention.

Cymphony has about 30 employees across Tel Aviv and New York. Most of its customers are currently in North America, though Dekel told TechCrunch that the startup is beginning to see demand from enterprises in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

That said, as Cymphony moves beyond its Series A and expands among large enterprise customers, it now has to prove that AI agent security can become a market of its own rather than a feature offered by larger security platforms. Balkansky believes spending in the area will grow as companies put more AI agents to work.

“If companies are not spending money on agent security, I don’t know what else they’ll be spending money on in the next five to 10 years,” he said.