What are the current funding trends in AI TRiSM?

All funding deals in the AI TRiSM market over the last years

Below is the table listing all the deals. You can find our methodology at the end of this page.

If you want a deeper understanding of the market and its current dynamics, get our AI TRiSM market report.

Is AI TRiSM funding really accelerating this year?

Yes. AI TRiSM funding is growing fast this year across deals, companies and capital.

We tracked 95 deals across 86 companies and at least $2.3B. Against the same period last year, deal count is up 40%, funded companies are up 34% and capital is up 183%; against the same period two years ago, the increases are 94%, 83% and 300%.

The table below compares this year with the same months of the last two years.

Metric	This year to date	Same period last year	Same period two years ago
Deals	95	68	49
Companies	86	64	47
Capital	$2.3B+	$826M+	$583M
Median round	$10M	$6.1M	$7M
Deals above $50M	11	4	1
Deals above $100M	5	no deal	no deal
Repeat rate	10%	6%	4%

"+" means at least: some round amounts were not disclosed. Medians are rounded; exact values are given in the text.

Has AI TRiSM funding already beaten last year's total?

It has, by a wide margin. AI TRiSM funding this year has already beaten the whole of last year, even though the year is not over.

Capital this year to date equals 250% of the full previous year's total, while deal count equals 122%. Against the full year before that, the corresponding figures are 352% for capital and 158% for deals.

Those comparisons put a partial year next to a full year and are not annualized. They show how far the market has already moved while leaving the final annual total open.

Is the AI TRiSM growth just a megaround story?

No. AI TRiSM is still growing strongly after the biggest rounds are removed.

Against the same period last year, capital excluding rounds above $50M is up 146% and capital excluding rounds above $100M is up 95%. Against the same period two years ago, those increases are 124% and 176%.

Nine-figure rounds matter more than before, but the market underneath them is also clearly larger.

Are more AI TRiSM companies getting funded too?

Yes. More AI TRiSM companies are getting funded this year.

The number of funded companies rose 34% against the same period last year, from 64 to 86. Against the same period two years ago, it rose 83%, from 47 to 86.

That wider company count shows the growth reaches beyond a few exceptional names.

Is the typical AI TRiSM round getting bigger?

Much bigger. The typical AI TRiSM financing has grown a lot this year.

The exact median is $10.0M, up 64% from $6.1M in the same period last year and up 43% from $7.0M in the same period two years ago. The share of funded companies with less than $5M has also fallen to 24%, from 45% last year and 34% two years ago over the same months.

The median confirms that the typical deal is getting bigger too.

Are $100M AI TRiSM rounds now part of the market?

Yes. Nine-figure AI TRiSM rounds are happening repeatedly now, although they are still rare.

We tracked 5 deals above $100M this year, representing 5% of all deals and $728M in capital. None of the rounds in the same period of the last two years went above $100M; the biggest were two rounds of exactly $100M last year, for Arena and Noma Security.

Arena's $200M Series B, Zenity's $125M Series C and HiddenLayer's $100M Series B show that nine-figure checks now appear across several AI TRiSM categories.

Is AI TRiSM moving beyond seed?

Yes, compared with last year. Series A and Series B now take a bigger share of AI TRiSM deals, although the longer comparison is more mixed.

Seed represents 61% of deals this year versus 78% in the same period last year, a decline of 17 percentage points. Series A rose by 11 percentage points to 23%, while Series B rose by 4 percentage points to 7%.

The table below shows the stage mix across the three matched periods.

Stage	This year	Last-year period	Two-years-ago period	Capital this year
Series A	23%	12%	22%	$826M+
Series B	7%	3%	12%	$651M
Seed	61%	78%	61%	$483M+
Unknown	6%	6%	4%	$220M+
Series C	2%	1%	no deal	$155M
Series D+-plus	no deal	no deal	no deal	–
Growth	no deal	no deal	no deal	–

"+" means at least: some round amounts were not disclosed.

Is Series A taking a much bigger share of AI TRiSM money?

Yes. Series A now takes a much bigger share of AI TRiSM money, even though seed still produces most deals.

Series A represents 23% of deals but 35% of disclosed capital this year, up from 19% of disclosed capital in the same period last year, with a $30M median. Seed still produces most deals but only 21% of disclosed capital, down from 58% in the same period last year, with a $6.5M median.

Lots of startups still get seed rounds, while a smaller group can now raise unusually large Series A checks.

Are AI TRiSM startups finally reaching later-stage rounds?

Only partly. AI TRiSM has more later-stage funding, but Series D+-plus and growth rounds are still absent.

Later-stage deals represent 10% among deals with a named stage this year, versus 5% in the same period last year. Yet there are only 2 Series C deals and no Series D+-plus or growth rounds.

Series A and Series B are getting much stronger before a real late-stage market has formed. AI TRiSM is growing up, but it is not there yet.

Is runtime guardrail funding taking over AI TRiSM?

Yes. Runtime guardrails and policy enforcement now lead AI TRiSM by both deal count and disclosed capital.

The category represents 45% of deals this year, versus 21% in the same period last year and 27% in the same period two years ago. It also represents 45% of disclosed capital this year.

AI agents help explain the jump. OWASP published its Top 10 for agentic applications in December 2025, a list of the main security risks of autonomous AI systems. Arcade.dev, at its $60M Series A in June 2026, described enforcing policy and user permissions at every agent action, while Zenity said in August 2026 that its platform can allow, change or block an agent's action before it happens.

Recent rounds fit that change. WitnessAI raised $58M in January 2026 while extending its platform to AI agents, Neo Security came out of stealth in July 2026 with a real-time control layer for agentic software, and Bay announced in November 2026 a product that allows or blocks each agent action within milliseconds. Agent security spills over into the next category too: Straiker raised $64M in June 2026 and HiddenLayer $100M in September 2026, both counted in AI security and red teaming. Investors are funding a new control layer around enterprise AI agents.

The table below shows the current category mix against the same period last year.

Category	Deal share now	Deal share last year	Capital share now	Capital share last year
Runtime Guardrails & Policy Enforcement	45%	21%	45%	18%
AI Security & Red Teaming	15%	22%	16%	25%
Model Risk & Evaluation	12%	21%	25%	31%
AI Monitoring & Observability	11%	7%	4%	10%
AI Governance & Inventory	8%	18%	5%	10%
Compliance & Audit Management	5%	3%	1%	1%
Data & Privacy Controls	4%	9%	3%	5%

Are investors backing fewer model-evaluation startups?

Fewer deals, yes; less money, no. Model risk and evaluation has fewer financings, but much more money is going into its leaders.

Its deal share fell to 12% this year from 21% in the same period last year and 22% in the same period two years ago. Yet the category raised $595M this year, representing 25% of disclosed capital.

Arena is the clearest explanation. Arena raised $350M in two rounds this year, and when it announced its $200M Series B in October 2026, the company said it had passed $100M in annualized revenue. The category has fewer deals, but some winners are scaling quickly.

Is AI security and red teaming cooling?

Only in share. AI security and red teaming gets a smaller share of deals while still attracting a lot of money.

The category accounts for 15% of deals this year versus 22% in the same period last year and 20% in the same period two years ago. It still raised $368M and captured 16% of disclosed capital this year.

Most of the decline comes from runtime guardrails growing so quickly. AI security still gets a large share of the money.

Is AI monitoring getting more AI TRiSM deals?

Yes. AI monitoring and observability is getting a bigger share of AI TRiSM deals, but it still attracts less money than the leading categories.

The category represents 11% of deals this year, up from 7% in the same period last year. It raised at least $102M and represents 4% of disclosed capital.

Operational AI deployments need monitoring as well as enforcement. The category is growing, while investors currently write larger checks for products that can directly block, authorize or control actions.

Is AI TRiSM money going mostly to startups that already raised?

Mostly, yes: four dollars out of five now go to AI TRiSM startups that had raised money before.

Follow-ons represent 54% of deals and 80% of disclosed capital this year, compared with 41% of deals and 52% of disclosed capital in the same period last year. First financings fell from 56% to 42% of deals over the same comparison.

New companies are still getting funded, while the strongest startups from the earlier funding wave are now returning for much larger rounds.

Are AI TRiSM startups raising twice in the same year?

More often than before. 9 AI TRiSM startups have already raised twice this year, although most funded startups still raise only once.

The repeat-company rate is 10% this year, versus 6% in the same period last year and 4% in the same period two years ago. We counted 9 repeat companies this year.

More startups have now had time to prove demand and come back for another institutional round.

Are AI TRiSM investors becoming repeat backers too?

They are. More AI TRiSM investors are coming back to lead another round.

We counted 92 unique disclosed lead investors this year, versus 69 in the same period last year and 51 in the same period two years ago. Repeat leads accounted for 33% of led rounds, compared with 18% last year and 13% two years ago over the same months.

TLV Partners led the most rounds this year with 4; Bessemer Venture Partners led 3, Norwest 3 and SYN Ventures 3. More investors are entering AI TRiSM, and a smaller group is also coming back repeatedly.

Is the United States still the clear leader in AI TRiSM funding?

Yes. The United States still leads AI TRiSM by both deals and capital, although its share has fallen.

US startups account for 57% of deals and 62% of disclosed capital this year. In the same period last year those shares were 71% and 77%, and in the same period two years ago they were 61% and 70%.

More funding is happening outside the United States, but no other country has displaced it as the main market.

Is Israel catching up with the US in AI TRiSM funding?

Partly. Israel has gained a lot of AI TRiSM funding share this year while the US share fell, but US startups still raise twice as much money.

Israeli startups account for 21% of deals and 31% of disclosed capital this year, versus 9% and 17% in the same period last year. In the same period two years ago, the corresponding shares were 16% and 21%.

The rise lines up with the market's category shift because many of the best-funded Israeli companies are concentrated in AI security, agent control and runtime enforcement.

Is Europe catching up in AI TRiSM?

A little. Europe is getting more AI TRiSM deals, but it still gets a small share of the money.

Europe accounts for 18% of deals and 7% of disclosed capital this year, versus 16% and 5% in the same period last year. In the same period two years ago, it represented 14% of deals and 5% of disclosed capital.

Europe is making steady progress. It is adding funded companies, while the largest current checks still cluster in the United States and Israel.

Has AI TRiSM funding accelerated quarter by quarter?

Mostly yes. Quarterly AI TRiSM funding is now running much higher, and Q3 2026 is the strongest full quarter since at least the start of 2024.

Q1 2026 produced $488M, Q2 produced $518M and Q3 produced at least $906M. Q4 2026 is partial and has already produced $413M, so it should not be compared as a completed quarter.

The table below shows AI TRiSM funding quarter by quarter since the start of 2024.

Period	Deals	Capital	Median	Status
Q1 2024	8	$41M	$4.8M
Q2 2024	15	$118M	$5.5M
Q3 2024	16	$196M	$8.2M
Q4 2024	20	$304M	$8M
Q1 2025	17	$197M	$10M
Q2 2025	18	$249M+	$7M
Q3 2025	22	$294M	$4.1M
Q4 2025	20	$170M	$7.8M
Q1 2026	23	$488M	$6M
Q2 2026	30	$518M	$10M
Q3 2026	30	$906M+	$16M
Q4 2026	10	$413M	$23M	partial

Quarters add up to fewer deals than the yearly totals: 1 deal of 2024, 1 of 2025 and 2 of 2026 are dated only by the year, so they count in the yearly totals but in no quarter. "+" means at least: some round amounts were not disclosed. Medians are rounded; exact values are given in the text.

So, what are the current funding trends in AI TRiSM?

AI TRiSM funding is growing fast, with more money moving into Series A, follow-on rounds and tools that control AI agents.

The growth shows up in more deals, more funded companies, a larger median, stronger funding without the biggest rounds and much greater Series A activity. One outlier company cannot explain all of those changes.

The bigger change is where the money is going. Runtime guardrails now dominate deal flow, follow-ons take most disclosed capital, repeat lead investors are more common, and Israel has gained share as agent-security companies raise larger checks. Conventional late-stage funding beyond Series C is still almost absent.

The table below shows what we found.

Question	Answer
Is AI TRiSM money growing faster than deal count?	Yes, capital is up 183% against the same months last year. Deal count rose a smaller 40% over the same months. So rounds are getting bigger, not just more frequent.
Is growth dependent on giant rounds?	No, capital excluding rounds above $50M is up 146%. Excluding rounds above $100M still leaves 95% growth. Smaller rounds are growing strongly at the same time.
How big is a typical AI TRiSM round now?	The median AI TRiSM round is $10.0M this year. The median was $6.1M in the same months last year. That is a 64% jump in the typical check.
Are nine-figure rounds now real?	Yes, this year has 5 deals above $100M. The same months of the last two years had none above $100M. Several separate AI TRiSM winners now raise nine-figure rounds.
Is seed losing its grip?	Compared with last year, seed is clearly losing share. Seed fell to 61% of deals from 78%. Series A gained 11 percentage points over that period.
What category is driving change?	Runtime guardrails now represent 45% of all AI TRiSM deals. They also capture 45% of disclosed capital this year. Agent control now gets the biggest share of funding.
Are new companies being squeezed out?	Not entirely, although follow-ons now dominate AI TRiSM capital. They account for 54% of deals and 80% of disclosed capital. Scaling winners are receiving the biggest checks in the market.
Do AI TRiSM investors keep coming back?	Yes, repeat leads now represent 33% of led rounds. That share was only 18% in the same months last year. More investors are coming back to lead another deal.
Is the US still number one?	Yes, US startups still account for 57% of deals. The US share is down from 71% in the same months last year. The lead remains clear, although it is less dominant.
Which AI TRiSM geography gained most?	Israel reached 21% of all AI TRiSM deals this year. It also reached 31% of disclosed capital this year. Agent security is driving much of that rise.
Has quarterly capital stepped up?	Yes, Q3 2026 reached at least $906M in capital. Q1 and Q2 2026 each beat every quarter of 2024 and 2025. Quarterly funding is now running at a higher level.