Who invests most in AI trust, risk and security?

Which VCs invest the most in AI TRiSM right now?

Andreessen Horowitz has joined more AI TRiSM rounds than any other investor, 7 in total, and led 6 of them.

SYN Ventures and Felicis follow with 6 rounds each, and both have led 5. Lightspeed Venture Partners and TLV Partners are next with 5 rounds each. The lead is close enough that a few new financings can still change the order quickly.

In an October 2026 security outlook, Andreessen Horowitz argued that AI is rewriting the cybersecurity agenda, while Felicis has backed infrastructure for securing enterprise agents and their tool access. That helps explain why both broad technology funds and security specialists are showing up around the same companies.

The table below ranks the 20 most active AI TRiSM investors by the number of equity rounds they joined, with the rounds they led, their main stages, the startups they backed and the biggest round they joined.

If you want to go more into detail and get more data to understand what investors are betting on now, please check our AI TRiSM report.

Data from January 2024 through 12 November 2026, which is enough to show who is active today and who has been for years. Rounds: equity rounds in which the investor is named. Led: rounds it led or co-led. ▲ more rounds in 2026 so far than its 2025 pace, ▼ fewer.

Which AI TRiSM investors are still investing this year?

SYN Ventures and TLV Partners are the busiest AI TRiSM investors this year with 4 rounds each.

Andreessen Horowitz has joined 2 after joining 3 last year. Among the 20 investors in our ranking, 19 have joined at least one round this year, while Insight Partners has not joined a round.

SYN Ventures and TLV Partners already had strong security and AI exposure before this latest activity. Their pace shows that experienced early-stage investors are still finding new AI TRiSM companies rather than simply supporting old portfolio bets.

The table below shows, year by year, how many rounds 12 of the most active AI TRiSM investors joined, so it is easy to see who is still investing and who has slowed down.

If you want to go more into detail and see which investors are still writing checks and which have slowed down, please check our AI TRiSM report.

* 2026: January to 12 November. Darker cells mean more rounds that year. Data from January 2024 through 12 November 2026.

Are big VCs or cybersecurity specialists winning AI TRiSM?

Both are winning different parts of AI TRiSM right now: Andreessen Horowitz leads overall activity, while the security specialist SYN Ventures and the Israeli early-stage fund TLV Partners are especially strong at seed.

SYN Ventures focuses on cybersecurity, privacy, regulatory compliance and data governance. YL Ventures invests exclusively in cybersecurity, and TLV Partners has several companies where AI and security overlap. Large generalists bring broader AI networks and more capacity to stay involved as companies raise bigger rounds.

The split is visible in how they behave. Specialists often arrive early and lead. Generalists become more prominent once a company looks capable of becoming a broader enterprise platform.

The table below shows how several of the busiest investors compare on round activity and lead behavior.

Investor	Rounds	Led	Lead style
Andreessen Horowitz	7	6	Usually leads
SYN Ventures	6	5	Named as lead in every round found
Felicis	6	5	Usually leads
Lightspeed Venture Partners	5	5	Named as lead in every round found
TLV Partners	5	5	Named as lead in every round found
Race Capital	4	4	Named as lead in every round found
Bessemer Venture Partners	4	4	Named as lead in every round found

Does Andreessen Horowitz usually lead the AI TRiSM rounds it joins?

Yes, Andreessen Horowitz usually leads the AI TRiSM rounds it joins.

Andreessen Horowitz has led 6 of its 7 rounds, an 86% lead rate. Its tracked companies include Arena, Braintrust, Neo Security, Keycard and Promptfoo, which puts the firm across evaluation, monitoring and security rather than one narrow product type.

Andreessen Horowitz has also published a broader security thesis around AI creating new offensive capabilities and new surfaces for defenders to protect. Its deals fit that view: the firm keeps leading rounds in tools that test, monitor and secure AI.

Is SYN Ventures now the specialist AI security fund to watch?

Yes, SYN Ventures is one of the security specialists to watch in AI TRiSM today.

SYN Ventures has backed 6 AI TRiSM startups and led every round with a known lead. Its portfolio includes Cranium AI, Opsin, Helmet Security, CodeIntegrity and Arcade.dev.

That spread matches the firm's focus on cybersecurity, privacy, regulatory compliance and data governance. AI agents raise new questions: who gets access to what, how to test them, and where company data ends up. SYN Ventures is covering several of those control points at once.

Is Felicis becoming a major AI trust and security investor?

Yes, Felicis is already a major AI TRiSM investor and is especially strong at Series A.

Felicis has led 5 rounds and leads Series A activity with 3 rounds. Felicis's lead on Runlayer's Series A in June 2026 shows a clear thesis: AI agents and MCP infrastructure create new permission and security problems that enterprises need to control.

Arena points in the same direction from a different angle. Felicis backed a company that moved from model comparison into agent evaluation and alignment. Together, those bets show a focus on the infrastructure enterprises need before they can trust more autonomous AI systems.

Which AI TRiSM investors back seed rounds, and which back growth rounds?

Seed is where most AI TRiSM investing happens, and TLV Partners is the most active seed investor with 5 rounds.

Seed accounts for 152 of the 215 rounds with a known stage. Felicis leads Series A activity with 3 rounds, while LG Technology Ventures leads Series C with 2 rounds. Only 3 known-stage rounds are Series C or later.

The gap between seed and later stages is still huge. Most investors are still placing early bets, trying to work out which tools for securing agents, models and data will turn into lasting businesses.

The table below shows, for 12 of the most active AI TRiSM investors, how many rounds they joined at each stage, from seed to growth.

If you want to go more into detail and see where each investor places its bets, from seed to growth, please check our AI TRiSM report.

Most active at each stage, among all AI TRiSM investors: Seed, TLV Partners · Series A, Felicis · Series B, 5 investors tied with 2 rounds · Series C, LG Technology Ventures. Bigger dots mean more rounds. Data from January 2024 through 12 November 2026.

Do cybersecurity specialists own AI TRiSM seed rounds?

No, cybersecurity specialists don't own AI TRiSM seed rounds, because the two busiest seed investors are TLV Partners, an Israeli early-stage fund, and Andreessen Horowitz.

TLV Partners leads seed activity with 5 rounds, while Andreessen Horowitz has 4. YL Ventures and Hetz Ventures also entered early around problems such as GenAI security, prompt injection, shadow AI and sensitive-data leakage.

Security specialists can test these problems quickly with CISOs and security teams they already know. The risk is staying too narrow as AI TRiSM expands into governance, assurance and model quality, where the buyer may sit outside the security organization.

Who backs the bigger AI TRiSM rounds?

Felicis, Andreessen Horowitz, Norwest and Bessemer are among the investors showing up in bigger AI TRiSM rounds today.

Recent examples include Arena's $200M Series B, Zenity's $125M Series C and Onyx Security's $113M Series B. Those companies sell evaluation or security products to lots of big companies, which is exactly what large multi-stage funds like to back.

Later-stage AI TRiSM is still thin, so there is no settled growth investor yet. A handful of new Series B and Series C rounds could change the picture quickly.

Does Microsoft M12 lead AI TRiSM rounds or mostly follow?

Microsoft (M12) mostly follows in AI TRiSM rather than leading rounds.

Microsoft (M12) has joined 4 rounds and led none. Datadog Ventures shows the same pattern with 4 rounds and no leads, while Citi Ventures has joined 3 and led 1.

Their portfolios sit close to their own businesses. Microsoft (M12) has backed HiddenLayer, Arize AI, Bay and Relyance AI, while Datadog Ventures has backed Arize AI, Braintrust and Patronus AI. These corporate funds get to learn about new AI security tools and stay close to the founders without having to set the terms of each round.

Why are Israeli VCs so visible in early AI TRiSM deals?

Israeli venture firms are unusually visible in early AI TRiSM because the market overlaps heavily with cybersecurity.

TLV Partners, YL Ventures, Glilot Capital Partners and Hetz Ventures all appear around agent security, GenAI security or governance. YL Ventures has invested only in cybersecurity for years, while Hetz Ventures and Glilot Capital Partners have also backed AI security companies from early stages.

That ecosystem already has founders, buyers and investors used to spotting new security categories before the budgets are obvious. AI TRiSM is currently rewarding that experience.

Is Bessemer making a serious move into AI agent security?

Yes, Bessemer Venture Partners is making a serious move into AI agent security.

Bessemer has joined 4 AI TRiSM rounds and has led financings for Neo Security and Onyx Security. When it backed Onyx Security's Series B in July 2026, Bessemer described autonomous agents as a new enterprise attack surface and a major new cybersecurity platform shift.

Its portfolio also includes Dome Systems and AIMon Labs. The pattern looks deliberate: Bessemer is treating agent security as a standalone category rather than a side feature of existing cyber products.

Are Sequoia and Redpoint big AI TRiSM investors yet?

Not yet: Sequoia Capital and Redpoint Ventures are involved in AI TRiSM, but each has joined 3 rounds.

Both have backed Irregular, which sits closer to frontier-model security than conventional governance software. Redpoint's other tracked companies include JetStream Security and Dome Systems, while Sequoia's include AIR Security and Apex Security.

Their portfolios show interest from top generalist firms without the breadth of Andreessen Horowitz, SYN Ventures or Felicis. For now, they look selective rather than category-wide.

Is Norwest already a serious AI TRiSM investor?

Yes, Norwest has quickly become a real AI TRiSM investor, with only a few rounds but one of the market's biggest deals.

Norwest has joined 3 rounds, all this year, including Zenity's $125M Series C. Its tracked portfolio also includes Beltic and Coval.

Zenity makes the entry more important than the count alone suggests. Norwest led a large round in a company already selling agent security to major enterprises, so Norwest started with a more mature company than funds that only do seed rounds.

Which AI TRiSM investors most often invest together?

No investor pair dominates AI TRiSM co-investing today.

3 pairs are tied at the top with 2 rounds together each. Felicis and Khosla Ventures backed Arena and Runlayer together; Andreessen Horowitz and Merlin Ventures also share 2 rounds, as do Lightspeed Venture Partners and Walden Catalyst Ventures.

The low repeat count is the main takeaway. With 316 different named investors across the market, syndicates are still forming around each deal rather than around a fixed group of repeat partners.

The table below lists the pairs of AI TRiSM investors named together in at least two equity rounds, with the startups they backed together.

If you want to go more into detail and see which investor networks back the same startups, please check our AI TRiSM report.

Pairs of investors named in the same equity round. Data from January 2024 through 12 November 2026.

Is everyone in AI TRiSM just piling into Arena?

Only partly: Arena has drawn several of the top AI TRiSM investors, but the leading firms also back plenty of startups beyond Arena.

Andreessen Horowitz has backed 5 startups, SYN Ventures 6 and Felicis 4. Arena has attracted Andreessen Horowitz, Felicis, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Khosla Ventures, yet those firms also appear in other evaluation, monitoring and security companies.

That breadth keeps one breakout company from explaining the whole ranking. The busiest investors are building portfolios across several control points around enterprise AI.

Are investors backing narrow AI security tools or bigger control platforms?

Investors are increasingly backing AI TRiSM companies that want to become broader control platforms.

Onyx Security describes a control plane for AI agents, Zenity combines discovery, governance and runtime protection, Arena is moving deeper into agent evaluation, and Relyance AI pairs data governance with compliance controls built for AI.

The attraction is straightforward. A narrow security tool can solve one urgent problem, while a platform that inventories, authorizes, tests and monitors AI can sit closer to the core enterprise stack. Major VCs are clearly willing to fund that bigger ambition.

So, who are the biggest investors in AI trust, risk and security?

Andreessen Horowitz is the biggest AI TRiSM investor by total rounds joined, with specialists and major generalist VCs close behind.

SYN Ventures and Felicis sit just behind the leader, TLV Partners is strongest at seed, and Microsoft (M12) mostly joins rounds without leading them. Bessemer is pushing hard into agent security, while repeat co-investing remains limited.

The market still has room for the order to change. Most financings are early-stage, several specialist funds are moving quickly, and later-stage leadership is still thin.

The table below shows what we found.

Question	Answer
Is one VC running away with AI TRiSM?	No. Andreessen Horowitz leads, but the gap is narrow. SYN Ventures and Felicis remain close enough to challenge.
Do busy AI TRiSM investors actually lead?	Often, yes. Several top firms lead most rounds they join. Leading a round shows a fund really believes in the company.
Are cybersecurity specialists winning at seed?	Not on their own, generalists are just as busy. TLV Partners, an Israeli early-stage fund, leads seed with 5 rounds. YL Ventures and Hetz Ventures still get into many seed rounds early.
Are generalist VCs still important?	Very much so. Andreessen Horowitz and Felicis sit near the top. Their scale becomes useful when companies raise larger rounds.
Who is busiest right now?	SYN Ventures and TLV Partners are tied at 4 rounds this year. Both remain active at the earliest stages. That keeps competition high.
Does Microsoft M12 usually lead?	No. Microsoft (M12) has joined 4 rounds and led none. Microsoft (M12) joins rounds to stay close, not to set the terms.
Is agent security attracting major VCs?	Yes. Bessemer has backed Neo Security and Onyx Security. Major investors now treat agent security as its own category.
Is later-stage AI TRiSM deep yet?	No. Only 3 known-stage rounds are Series C or later. Growth leadership can still change quickly.
Do the same investors keep teaming up?	Rarely. The leading pairs share only 2 rounds each. Most syndicates are still assembled deal by deal.
Does Arena distort investor activity?	Only partly. Arena attracts several top funds, but those funds back other startups too. Their portfolios are broader than one breakout company.
Are investors funding bigger control platforms?	Increasingly, yes. Evaluation, governance and runtime security are starting to overlap. Investors are backing companies that connect those functions.