HiddenLayer

HiddenLayer is an AI security company focused on protecting machine learning models and AI-powered products from adversarial attack, theft, and misuse. Founded in 2022 in Austin, Texas by James Ballard, Tanner Burns, and Chris Sestito, the company built its reputation on Machine Learning Detection and Response (MLDR), a non-invasive, software-based approach that monitors the inputs and outputs of AI models to detect attacks in real time and respond through alerting, isolation, profiling, or deception. HiddenLayer has expanded into a broader AI security platform that includes model scanning for malicious or vulnerable artifacts, automated red teaming to probe models and applications before deployment, and AI risk and governance tooling. It serves enterprise security teams, ML engineers, and regulated organizations that treat models as critical, unprotected assets. Backed by a $50M Series A led by M12 (Microsoft's venture fund) and Moore Strategic Ventures with participation from Booz Allen, IBM, and Capital One Ventures, HiddenLayer is among the better-funded pure-play AI security vendors. Its distinguishing strength is runtime detection and response tailored specifically to machine learning models rather than only pre-deployment testing.