depthfirst Inc. raises $80M in Series B

Depthfirst Inc., an AI-native security platform company, has raised $80 million in a Series B funding round led by Meritech Capital Partners LP. The financing aims to bolster the firm's resources for training security models across new domains, expanding its AI research team, and accelerating enterprise adoption. Additional participants in the round included Forerunner Ventures, The House Fund, Accel Partners LP, Box Group, Liquid 2 Ventures, Alt Capital, and Mantis VC.

The company's platform deploys custom AI agents designed to secure software by interpreting codebases and workflows to identify vulnerabilities that traditional security tools may overlook. Depthfirst, founded in 2024, is operating in an environment where software development is rapidly outpacing conventional security mechanisms, and AI-driven threats are becoming more common. This funding round arrives just three months after Depthfirst's last capital raise, underscoring investor confidence in their business model and technological approach.

Depthfirst also announced the launch of dfs-mini1, its first in-house security model. Initially targeting smart contracts in the cryptocurrency sector, dfs-mini1 was built on an open-source framework and enhanced with reinforcement learning in security-specific settings. The model demonstrates the capability to generalize its applications beyond smart contracts, boasting performance improvements over existing frontier models while maintaining cost efficiency.

The investment highlights a growing recognition among investors that AI technologies are poised to reshape the traditional security stack. “To win in security, companies will need to deploy security-specific models optimized for real security workflows,” said Qasim Mithani, Depthfirst’s CEO. CTO Andrea Michi further emphasized the advantages of owning the training process, enabling the company to optimize specifically for vulnerability detection and verification.

The funding positions Depthfirst to enhance its technological capabilities in a security sector increasingly integrating AI solutions. The movement towards AI-native platforms is pressuring traditional security firms to innovate or risk obsolescence. As Depthfirst continues to roll out its enhanced models, it could face regulatory scrutiny over AI-generated security outputs, which companies will need to monitor as adoption widens.