Backed by SYN Ventures and WhiteRabbit, Helmet secures today’s MCP communications and will expand to protect the next generation of AI-to-AI connectivity

Helmet Security, the first end-to-end platform built to secure the rapidly evolving infrastructure behind agentic AI communications, has raised $9 million in capital from SYN Ventures and WhiteRabbit Ventures. As enterprises accelerate their adoption of agentic AI, the connections that power these systems are multiplying. Today, MCP is the primary connective tissue enabling agents to interact with software and data, and over 17,000 MCP servers have been deployed since its launch in November 2024. But most of these connections remain unmonitored, leaving enterprises exposed to risks that traditional security tools cannot see.

Helmet Security, built in collaboration with several Fortune 500 CISOs, was created to solve this problem outright: continuously discovering, monitoring, and enforcing controls on MCP servers today while building an adaptive foundation to secure all forms of agentic connectivity as they evolve.

“AI-to-AI communication is the critical foundation for the next generation of tech,” said Caleb Sima, Founder, WhiteRabbit Ventures. “Helmet Security provides the safety layer to make this a reality for the enterprise.”

Enterprises are rapidly building on top of agentic AI, creating an innovation layer that must be continuously secured. Helmet Security delivers a business-first solution that ensures CISOs always understand, and can instantly act on how AI systems connect, communicate, and make decisions.

“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,” said Jay Leek, Managing Partner and Founder, SYN Ventures. “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.”

Architected by CTO Kaushik Shanadi, an experienced security architect and engineering leader, and led by CEO, Fred Kneip, a veteran security and risk executive, Helmet protects innovation without slowing it down by integrating seamlessly with existing EDR tools and API connections in an enterprise’s stack for discovery and blocking.

• Discovery: Automatic scanning to identify MCP servers and migrate them into a managed state.
• Monitoring: Continuous observation and logging of traffic across all MCP connections.
• Management: Structured access policies with the ability to identify and block out-of-policy or noncompliant connections.

Every time a new server or communication path appears, Helmet Security detects it, brings it under control, and empowers CISOs to enforce policy instantly—no matter how quickly developers innovate.

“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,” said Kneip. “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.”

“Security and productivity are often at odds, and AI agents are no exception,” said Shanadi. “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.”

About Helmet Security

Helmet Security is the first end-to-end security platform built to protect enterprises from rapidly evolving agentic AI communications. Today, MCP is the leading method enabling AI agents to plug directly into business systems and Helmet provides instant, installation-free visibility into where and how those MCP connections are operating by integrating directly with existing EDR tools. The platform continuously discovers and manages MCP servers, bringing them under enforced policy so security leaders can identify risky activity, prevent unsanctioned or overprivileged workflows, and react instantly to new connections. As AI-to-AI communication patterns expand beyond MCP, Helmet is built to secure every next step, ensuring enterprises can innovate safely now and into the future.

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