Seattle Stealth Startup Certiv Launches With $4.2M to Revolutionize AI Agent Security

In a bold move that signals the explosive growth of AI agent security, Seattle-based startup Certiv has burst out of stealth mode with a $4.2 million pre-seed funding round, positioning itself at the forefront of a critical new frontier in cybersecurity.

The AI Agent Security Arms Race Heats Up

As artificial intelligence agents become increasingly autonomous—capable of writing code, accessing sensitive files, and navigating complex systems using employee credentials—a new security paradigm is urgently needed. Certiv’s founders recognized this gap and have developed a solution that acts as a digital bouncer for AI agents, sitting directly on employee computers to monitor, evaluate, and control agent behavior in real-time.

Veteran Leadership With Proven Track Records

At the helm is CEO Jason Needham, a Seattle tech veteran whose career reads like a startup success story. Needham co-founded Union Bay Networks, which Apple acquired in 2014, and CloudCoreo, a cloud management platform that VMware snapped up in 2018. His 12-year tenure at F5 Networks adds additional credibility to his leadership.

Needham’s co-founders bring equally impressive credentials. CTO Paul Allen (no relation to Microsoft’s co-founder) co-founded CloudCoreo and served as a distinguished engineer at Broadcom. Chief AI Officer Daniel Morris spent seven years at Microsoft working on AI and developer tools, bringing deep expertise in the very systems Certiv aims to secure.

The Technology: Runtime Assurance for AI Agents

Certiv’s approach is deceptively simple yet technically sophisticated. Their software installs directly on employee machines—whether Windows, Mac, or Linux—and creates a secure intermediary layer between AI agents and the systems they interact with. This positioning allows Certiv to evaluate every action an AI agent attempts against company policies, blocking unauthorized activities before they can cause damage.

“Think of it as a digital bodyguard for your AI workforce,” Needham explains. “We’re not just watching what agents do; we’re understanding their intent and reasoning chain.”

This “runtime assurance” approach gives Certiv capabilities that cloud-based or network-level tools simply cannot match. The company can detect unauthorized AI agents running on employee computers, track the full chain of reasoning behind an agent’s actions, and enforce policies based on what an agent is trying to accomplish rather than just what it’s doing at a given moment.

Funding and Market Validation

The $4.2 million pre-seed round attracted notable investors, including Aviso Ventures led by Signal Sciences founder Andrew Peterson, Founders Co-op, and Fortson. This investment comes as the broader AI agent security market explodes with activity.

Just last week, Mandiant founder Kevin Mandia raised a staggering $190 million for his autonomous AI agent security startup. Israeli company Onyx Security secured $35 million for enterprise AI agent security platforms, and OpenAI acquired cybersecurity startup Promptfoo to strengthen its agent safety tools.

Early Traction and Enterprise Demand

Despite being founded only in June 2025, Certiv already has nine employees and multiple pilot deployments with enterprise customers. The company is using its funding to support engineering growth and expand these early deployments.

“We’re seeing tremendous demand from enterprises that are racing to adopt AI agents but are terrified of the security implications,” Needham notes. “They need governance, they need control, and they need it yesterday.”

The Endpoint Advantage

Certiv’s strategy of focusing on the endpoint—the employee’s actual computer or device—gives it a crucial advantage. By intercepting agent behavior at the source, Certiv gains full visibility into what agents are doing on each machine before they reach production systems.

This approach addresses a fundamental challenge in AI security: agents can appear legitimate but behave maliciously, or they can be legitimate but misused. Certiv’s software can distinguish between these scenarios and enforce appropriate policies.

Remote-First With Seattle Roots

While Certiv operates as a remote-first company, the team regularly gathers at the Foundations startup community on Capitol Hill in Seattle, maintaining strong local tech ecosystem connections.

The Future of AI Workforce Management

As AI agents become more sophisticated and autonomous, the need for governance and security will only intensify. Certiv’s founders believe their runtime assurance approach represents the future of AI workforce management—a future where AI agents are treated as valuable employees who need supervision, guidance, and security protocols.

“We’re not trying to stop the AI revolution,” Needham emphasizes. “We’re trying to make it safe, controlled, and productive. Companies shouldn’t have to choose between AI innovation and security—they should have both.”

With its strong founding team, innovative technology, and timely market entry, Certiv is well-positioned to become a leader in the emerging field of AI agent security. As enterprises rush to deploy AI agents across their operations, Certiv’s solution may become the essential infrastructure that makes this transformation possible while keeping corporate data and systems secure.

The company’s emergence from stealth marks not just the launch of a new product, but the beginning of a new category in cybersecurity—one that will be critical as AI agents become ubiquitous in the modern workplace.

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