Helmet Security has secured $9 million in funding from SYN Ventures and WhiteRabbit Ventures, positioning the company to expand its end-to-end security platform built for the fast-growing agentic AI ecosystem.
The funding follows rapid enterprise adoption of AI-to-AI communication, particularly through MCP, which has become the dominant infrastructure layer enabling agents to connect with software and data. More than 17,000 MCP servers have been deployed since their introduction in late 2024, yet most remain unmonitored, creating blind spots that legacy security systems cannot detect.
Helmet Security’s platform is designed to discover, monitor, and manage MCP servers while laying a foundation that can adapt to emerging forms of AI-to-AI connectivity. The company’s technology gives enterprises immediate visibility into how MCP operates across their systems and empowers security leaders to identify risky activity, control unapproved communication paths, and enforce access policies in real time.
As enterprises accelerate their adoption of agentic AI, Helmet Security aims to provide CISOs with a business-first view of how AI systems connect, communicate, and make decisions. Its platform integrates directly into existing EDR tools and API environments without installation requirements, ensuring innovation continues unhindered while bringing AI communication streams under centralized governance. The system automatically scans for MCP servers, continuously monitors traffic, and applies structured access policies that can block noncompliant or rogue connections.
The company is led by CEO Fred Kneip, a longtime security and risk executive, and CTO Kaushik Shanadi, an experienced architect and engineering leader. Helmet’s goal is to pair developer velocity with enterprise-grade safety controls as AI-to-AI communication methods evolve. As new servers or communication paths appear, Helmet Security detects them, brings them under management, and enables instant enforcement of security policies.
KEY QUOTES
“AI-to-AI communication is the critical foundation for the next generation of tech. Helmet Security provides the safety layer to make this a reality for the enterprise.”
Caleb Sima, Founder, WhiteRabbit Ventures
“Helmet Security is batting one thousand on early prospect conversions because the platform delivers the Wiz proposition of instant value and applies it to AI-to-AI communications. Helmet gives enterprises an immediate, installation-free view into where and how MCP is operating across their environments, plus the ability to act on rogue connections. That level of ease, visibility, and instant impact is going to be a game changer.”
Jay Leek, Managing Partner and Founder, SYN Ventures
“AI is a new security frontier. There are a lot of technology products out there, but no-one is addressing the business security problem of MCP, until now. Helmet helps CISOs understand what servers are already in their environment, what information they are sharing, and who is using them. It then allows for simple policy enforcement to reduce the attack surface.”
Fred Kneip, CEO, Helmet Security
“Security and productivity are often at odds, and AI agents are no exception. By covering the full MCP lifecycle today and preparing to secure the emerging A2A methods for tomorrow, we help developers maintain speed while giving CISOs real guardrails. That’s what makes this platform workable and impactful in real enterprise environments.”
Kaushik Shanadi, CTO, Helmet Security
