Backslash Security (see Pulse 2.0 profile here) has raised $19 million in Series A funding to address the fast-emerging security risks tied to AI-native software development, as enterprises increasingly adopt autonomous coding agents and large language models across their development workflows. The round was led by KOMPAS VC, with participation from Maniv and Artofin Venture Capital, as well as existing investors StageOne Ventures and First Rays Capital.
The new financing follows an earlier $8 million seed round and comes amid what the company describes as a rapid grassroots shift from AI-assisted coding to fully autonomous AI agents that generate, modify, and deploy code inside enterprise environments.
As part of the announcement, Backslash also named veteran cybersecurity executive Ron Zoran, formerly Chief Revenue Officer at CyberArk, to its board of directors as an independent member. Zoran brings decades of experience scaling global cybersecurity businesses.
The funding arrives as adoption of AI-powered development tools such as Cursor, Claude Code, and GitHub Copilot accelerates across industries. Enterprises are embedding AI coding agents, modern IDEs, Model Context Protocol servers, and LLM integrations directly into development workflows. While these tools drive productivity, they also introduce new attack surfaces and reduce traditional visibility for security teams accustomed to more static and controlled development environments.
According to a recent report from Gartner, by 2028, 40% of new enterprise production software is expected to be created using vibe coding techniques and tools, underscoring the scale of the shift underway.
Backslash positions itself as the industry’s first security platform built specifically for vibe coding and AI-native software development. Rather than focusing on isolated components or applying generic AI security controls, the company provides a stack-level approach that spans IDEs, AI agents, MCPs, prompt workflows, governance policies, and monitoring controls. Its platform combines visibility, guardrails, real-time event monitoring, and active protection into a unified system designed to detect and respond to malicious or risky behavior across the AI-driven development lifecycle.
The new capital will be used to expand research and development talent, deepen platform capabilities, and scale go-to-market efforts in the United States and Europe as enterprise demand grows.
KEY QUOTES
“AI has fundamentally changed how software is built regardless of industry, and is dramatically increasing security risk. Backslash’s purpose-built platform is addressing this shift with a new security model designed for AI-driven development from day one.”
Talia Rafaeli, Partner at KOMPAS VC
“AI-native coding is already a reality in many organizations, even in industrial companies where mission-critical software interacts with the physical world and the stakes are higher. Security and oversight will need to be woven into the fabric of how these tools are deployed. We’ve been impressed by the deep experience Backslash brings to the table as they help their customers ensure that vibe coding risk is understood and mitigated.”
Nate Jaret, General Partner at Maniv
“GenAI is transforming developer productivity, but we have a responsibility to embrace it safely and securely. Backslash not only helps us triage vulnerabilities, but also provides visibility and governance over our evolving AI coding ecosystem transparently, without hindering velocity.”
Chris Niggel, Head of Security at Watershed
“We’ve passed the point of no return on how enterprise software is being composed. Organizations are no longer sitting on the fence – they are propelled by both boardroom pressures to adopt AI for greater efficiency and speed, and by developers who embrace the massive benefits of using vibe coding. But security cannot and should not be left behind. By providing quick, broad visibility and deep protection capabilities for the entire stack, we enable our customers to gain confidence in the inevitable journey towards vibe coding, and do so without putting their infrastructure and applications at risk. We are thrilled to partner with KOMPAS VC, Maniv, and Artofin for the next phase of Backslash’s journey as we rise to address this growing need.”
Shahar Man, Co-Founder and CEO of Backslash Security
