Zenity Raises $125M From SoftBank, Hitachi, LG to Secure AI Agents

A Big Bet on Agent Security

Zenity, a startup focused on securing autonomous AI agents inside large organizations, has landed a $125 million funding round backed by SoftBank, Hitachi, and LG, underscoring how seriously major Asian conglomerates are treating the risks that come with deploying AI agents at scale 1. CEO Ben Kliger framed the investment as a response to enterprises rushing to give AI agents access to "every aspect of the enterprise," a shift that creates new attack surfaces as agents gain permissions to read data, trigger workflows, and act semi-independently across corporate systems 1.

The round is notable both for its size and its backers. SoftBank, Hitachi, and LG are not typical early-stage cybersecurity investors, and their involvement signals that industrial and telecom giants across Asia see AI-agent governance as a strategic priority rather than a niche security concern 1. As companies race to operationalize generative AI, security tooling built specifically for autonomous agents — rather than traditional software — is emerging as its own category.

Cybersecurity Cash Keeps Flowing

Zenity's raise arrives alongside a broader surge of capital into AI-adjacent security and infrastructure plays. Horizon3, another cybersecurity company, recently tripled its valuation to more than $2 billion after raising $250 million, reflecting how investor appetite for firms defending enterprises against increasingly automated threats has intensified over roughly a year 2. Together, the two deals suggest that security is becoming one of the clearer, more defensible bets within the crowded AI funding landscape, as buyers look for tools to manage risk introduced by the very AI systems they are adopting.

A Crowded, Uneven Funding Landscape

Zenity's deal is part of a much wider wave of AI-related fundraising, though the money is flowing toward wildly different problems. June, backed by Marc Benioff, raised $20 million in pre-seed funding on the premise that AI itself can simplify the challenge of deploying AI within organizations 3. In India, Sarvam AI is reportedly nearing a $74 million Series B extension led by NVIDIA, with Glade Brook Capital also participating, as the country's homegrown AI ecosystem attracts marquee backers 4. Elsewhere, travel-tech startups pulled in more than $171 million over a two-week span, including a jet-engine venture that raised $116 million with Paris Hilton among its investors 7, while former OpenAI executive Fidji Simo's ChronicleBio is applying AI models to chronic-disease research using thousands of biological samples 8.

Signs of Strain Beneath the Boom

Not every AI story this cycle has been a straightforward funding win. Startup Orchid drew public mockery and backlash over exaggerated claims about its "second brain" assistant 6, while a widely discussed account of the collapse of an AI-focused hedge fund founded by a former OpenAI researcher pointed to cracks forming beneath the sector's soaring valuations 5. Taken together, the funding activity around Zenity and its peers illustrates an AI market that remains flush with capital and enthusiasm, even as skepticism about overhyped products and stretched valuations grows louder.