All analysis was generated autonomously, without human review. Scores are analytical opinions drawn from the cited public sources, without hands-on testing. They are not audits, certifications, investment reports, purchasing advice, or evaluations of quality.
IronCore Labs sells encryption that keeps data usable. Its Cloaked AI SDK encrypts the numeric fingerprints, called vector embeddings, that AI systems store, so similarity search still works on protected data. SaaS Shield lets software vendors give each customer its own encryption keys. IronCore builds in the open, with public docs, an open-source SDK, and an encryption technique based on a peer-reviewed 2022 cryptography paper. The commercial record is thinner. SEC filings show four small fundraising rounds since 2017, the latest 500,000 dollars in 2024. The product pages name customers including HubSpot and Broadcom. IronCore announced a Gartner Cool Vendor in Data Security designation in 2025. Watch whether customer evidence appears beyond the vendor's own pages.
| Description | IronCore Labs sells application-layer encryption tools that keep sensitive data in SaaS applications, search indices, and AI vector databases encrypted while it remains usable. | [f1] |
|---|---|---|
| Founded | 2015 | [f2] |
| HQ | Boulder, Colorado, United States | [f3] |
| Latest funding | Regulation D offering of promissory notes convertible into equity, $500,000 sold (Form D, April 2024) | [f3] |
| Product | What it does |
|---|---|
| Cloaked AI | An SDK that encrypts AI vector embeddings with searchable data-in-use encryption so nearest-neighbor search and RAG workflows keep working on protected data. |
| SaaS Shield | A platform that adds per-tenant application-layer encryption, customer-managed keys, and data access visibility to multi-tenant SaaS applications. |
| Cloaked Search | A transparent proxy that adds searchable application-layer encryption to sensitive data in Elasticsearch and OpenSearch indices. |
| Data Control Platform | Developer SDKs for building end-to-end encrypted applications with cryptographic access controls, sharing, and groups. |
| VectorLens | A command-line scanner that detects and classifies PII hidden in vector embeddings exported from vector databases. |
AI Defense Matrix
| Govern | Identify | Protect | Detect | Respond | Recover | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AI-Workload Platforms Inference servers, training platforms, vector DB platforms, and the model-loading supply chain. | ||||||
| AI Orchestration Tools Agentic orchestration tools, plus their plugins, skills, hooks, system prompts, scaffolding, harnesses, configuration settings, and MCP clients on user devices. | ||||||
| AI-Generated Code Code produced by AI tools, AI-assisted reviews, AI-generated infrastructure-as-code and tests, and vibe-coded apps that bypass CI/CD. | ||||||
| AI Gateways & Routers MCP proxies and gateways, LLM routers, outbound AI-service traffic, shadow AI egress, and model-registry traffic. | ||||||
| AI Model Model weights, fine-tuning checkpoints, model cards, registries, AIBOM, and the third-party LLMs your enterprise consumes. | ||||||
| Training Data Datasets used for training, fine-tuning, and continued learning. | ||||||
| Runtime AI Data User prompts, inference inputs, RAG content, vector DB content, persistent agent memory, and interaction history. | ||||||
| AI Agent Identities AI agents as non-human principals, plus credentials, keys, permission scopes, service accounts, and delegation chains across agents and tools. |
Cloaked AI applies searchable, distance-preserving encryption to AI vector embeddings so they stay usable for nearest-neighbor search while protecting the embedded source data against inversion attacks. These capabilities are mapped to the AI Defense Matrix. [f4]
Cyber Defense Matrix
| Identify | Protect | Detect | Respond | Recover | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Devices Workstations, servers, phones, tablets, storage, network devices, IoT infrastructure, and similar hardware. | |||||
| Applications Software, interactions, and application flows on the devices. | |||||
| Networks Connections and traffic flowing among devices and apps, plus communication paths. | |||||
| Data Content at rest, in transit, or in use across devices, apps, and networks. | |||||
| Users The people using the devices, apps, networks, and data. |
SaaS Shield adds per-tenant application-layer encryption to data in multi-tenant SaaS applications, Cloaked Search encrypts Elasticsearch and OpenSearch indices, and Data Control Platform provides SDKs for end-to-end encrypted applications. These products are mapped to the Cyber Defense Matrix. [f1]
How well the company can compete in its security market, scored across eight dimensions against public evidence.
| Dimension | Score |
|---|---|
| Problem Clarity How precisely the company defines its problem, with evidence the problem exists at the scale claimed. | 4/5 |
| Capability Depth How specific the technical capabilities are, with evidence beyond marketing claims such as docs, demos, and third-party validation. | 4/5 |
| Market Timing Whether the market is ready for this product, with evidence that buyers are actively seeking solutions. | 3/5 |
| Team Credibility Demonstrated domain expertise with public signals such as prior exits, publications, and industry recognition. | 3/5 |
| GTM Proof Evidence of actual traction (customers, revenue signals, partnerships) beyond stated intentions. | 3/5 |
| Funding Efficiency Whether funding matches go-to-market ambition, with signs of capital-efficient growth. | 3/5 |
| Category Clarity Whether the company creates or fits a recognizable category that buyers can quickly place in their stack. | 3/5 |
| Incumbent Defensibility How vulnerable the core value proposition is to absorption as a feature by a platform vendor. | 3/5 |
Unlock the Full Analysis
The reasoning for the scores, the strategy deep dive, the business risks, and more. AI access comes with the purchase, so your AI tools can read the full profile too. You keep 12 months of access.
One-time purchase: $20 per profile.
UnlockReading several? Unlock the entire catalog.
A closer look at the company's product strategy, measuring how defensible it is against market forces and examining the eight areas behind it.
reinforce or reposition
| Dimension | Score |
|---|---|
| Value Delivery Does the product sell software as the product, or judgment, trust, or accountability with software as the delivery mechanism. | 1/3 |
| Switching Cost How expensive leaving is for a customer: data portability, integrations, learned workflows, network effects, regulatory data residency. | 2/3 |
| Compliance Moat Whether certifications, liability acceptance, or audit trails block an easy replacement. | 1/3 |
| Problem Complexity Whether the product requires ML, optimization, real-time systems, or years of specialized expertise. | 3/3 |
| Buyer Profile Whether buyers are SMB operators, mid-market IT teams, or regulated enterprises and governments with procurement gates. | 2/3 |
| Layer Whether the product is an end-user application, a platform with application features, or infrastructure other applications depend on. | 3/3 |
| Proprietary Data, Content, or IP Whether the product accumulates datasets, content licenses, or IP that a rival cannot recreate from scratch. | 2/3 |
Unlock the Full Analysis
The reasoning for the scores, the strategy deep dive, the business risks, and more. AI access comes with the purchase, so your AI tools can read the full profile too. You keep 12 months of access.
One-time purchase: $20 per profile.
UnlockReading several? Unlock the entire catalog.
| Id | Source | Tier | Accessed |
|---|---|---|---|
| f1 | IronCore Labs: App-layer encryption for sensitive data and AI | official | 2026-07-03 |
| f2 | SEC EDGAR: IronCore Labs, Inc. Form D (filed January 2017) | regulatory | 2026-07-03 |
| f3 | SEC EDGAR: IronCore Labs, Inc. Form D (filed April 2024) | regulatory | 2026-07-03 |
| f4 | AI Defense Matrix Catalog mapping | other | 2026-07-03 |
| Id | Source | Tier | Accessed |
|---|---|---|---|
| s1 | IronCore Labs: homepage (HubSpot CISO testimonial) “Cloaked AI is database-agnostic and already works with Pinecone, Qdrant, Weaviate, Chroma, OpenSearch, Elasticsearch, pgvector, Milvus, LanceDB, Redis, and more.” | official | 2026-07-03 |
| s2 | IronCore Labs: Cloaked AI product page (customer logo wall shows HubSpot and Broadcom) “Unleash generative AI projects that use private data by protecting sensitive vector embeddings with searchable data-in-use encryption.” | official | 2026-07-03 |
| s3 | IronCore Labs: SaaS Shield product page (Thales Verified Partner badge, Broadcom customer testimonial) “Add application-layer encryption, data controls, and data transparency to your cloud app.” | official | 2026-07-03 |
| s4 | IronCore Labs: Cloaked Search product page “Sensitive data stored in Elasticsearch and OpenSearch is vulnerable to hackers. Secure it with searchable, drop-in, application-layer encryption.” | official | 2026-07-03 |
| s5 | IronCore Labs: Data Control Platform product page “Developer tools to control access to your data with encryption to build minimal trust, zero-trust, and end-to-end encrypted applications.” | official | 2026-07-03 |
| s6 | IronCore Labs blog: Announcing VectorLens (June 29, 2026) “VectorLens is a command-line tool built for security teams, privacy and GRC folks, and the developers who actually own these pipelines.” | official | 2026-07-03 |
| s7 | IronCore Labs: developer documentation portal “Use SaaS Shield with the IronCore Alloy SDK, the Tenant Security Proxy, and the Configuration Broker.” | official | 2026-07-03 |
| s8 | IronCore docs: Cloaked AI How It Works (notes the security-usability tradeoff of property-preserving encryption) “The encryption technique used in Cloaked AI is based on a paper Approximate Distance-Comparison-Preserving Symmetric Encryption by Georg Fuchsbauer, Riddhi Ghosal, Nathan Hauke, & Adam O’Neill” | official | 2026-07-03 |
| s9 | IronCore docs: Embedding Attacks “Embedding inversion attack, decodes embeddings back into their source data (approximately)” | official | 2026-07-03 |
| s10 | IronCore Labs: Trust Center (SOC 2) “That’s why we are SOC 2 certified.” | official | 2026-07-03 |
| s11 | IronCore Labs: SaaS Shield pricing (Pro tier $1,954 per month) “Pro $1,954 /mo Plus $25 per tenant for up to 100 tenants” | official | 2026-07-03 |
| s12 | IronCore Labs: Cloaked AI pricing “Free to try (non-production uses) or for use in code bases that are open source and AGPL-compatible.” | official | 2026-07-03 |
| s13 | IronCore Labs blog: IronCore Named a 'Cool Vendor in Data Security' by Gartner (September 2, 2025, byline Patrick Walsh) “We’re honored to announce that Gartner has recognized IronCore in its latest report, Gartner Cool Vendors in Data Security 2025: Securing Your Data in the Age of GenAI and Quantum Computing.” | official | 2026-07-03 |
| s14 | Gartner: Cool Vendors in Data Security 2025: Securing Your Data in the Age of GenAI and Quantum Computing (abstract page, vendor names gated) “Published: 25 August 2025” | research | 2026-07-03 |
| s15 | SEC EDGAR: IronCore Labs, Inc. Form D (filed April 2024) “Total Offering Amount $ 500,000 USD or Indefinite Total Amount Sold $ 500,000 USD” | regulatory | 2026-07-03 |
| s16 | SEC EDGAR: IronCore Labs, Inc. Form D (filed January 2017, $1,500,000 offering, listing Patrick Walsh and Robert Wall as executive officers) “Within Last Five Years (Specify Year) 2015” | regulatory | 2026-07-03 |
| s17 | Help Net Security: IronCore Labs Cloaked AI protects vector embeddings (November 17, 2023) “IronCore Labs launched Cloaked AI, an SDK that protects vector embeddings with data-in-use encryption.” | press | 2026-07-03 |
| s18 | Springer: Approximate Distance-Comparison-Preserving Symmetric Encryption, SCN 2022 conference proceedings “First Online: 05 September 2022” | research | 2026-07-03 |
| s19 | arXiv: Transferable Embedding Inversion Attack: Uncovering Privacy Risks in Text Embeddings without Model Queries (accepted at ACL 2024) “revealing the potential privacy vulnerabilities in embedding technologies and emphasizing the need for enhanced security measures” | research | 2026-07-03 |
| s20 | Silicon Flatirons: Patrick Walsh, IronCore Labs, Co-founder and CEO “He’s a named inventor in multiple patents on novel cryptography and a long-time advocate for privacy and security.” | research | 2026-07-03 |
| s21 | GitHub: IronCoreLabs/ironcore-alloy (AGPL-3.0 license, active repository) “A unified SDK for IronCore encryption operations including vector encryption for AI data” | official | 2026-07-03 |
| s22 | IronCore Labs: Intellectual Property (granted patents including Secured search for ready-made search software) “IronCore Labs has obtained the following patent protections for our innovations in encryption technology, Orthogonal Access Control for Groups via Multi-Hop Transform Encryption” | official | 2026-07-03 |
| s23 | The Org: Bob Wall, Co-Founder and CTO at IronCore Labs (bio behind a free-account login wall, quote verified via the page's search-engine cache) “Bob then moved to Oracle, where they served as the chief architect for the Oracle Service Cloud, a multitenant SaaS Customer Experience application.” | other | 2026-07-17 |
| s24 | SEC EDGAR: IronCore Labs, Inc. filing list showing four Form D filings (2017-01-30, 2018-06-28, 2021-04-08, 2024-04-24) | regulatory | 2026-07-03 |
| s25 | SEC EDGAR: IronCore Labs, Inc. Form D (filed June 2018) “Total Offering Amount $ 1,499,999 USD or Indefinite Total Amount Sold $ 1,499,997 USD” | regulatory | 2026-07-03 |
| s26 | SEC EDGAR: IronCore Labs, Inc. Form D (filed April 2021) “Total Offering Amount $ 2,000,000 USD or Indefinite Total Amount Sold $ 1,566,000 USD” | regulatory | 2026-07-03 |
| Id | Source | Tier | Accessed |
|---|---|---|---|
| s1 | IronCore Labs: homepage (HubSpot CISO testimonial) “Cloaked AI is database-agnostic and already works with Pinecone, Qdrant, Weaviate, Chroma, OpenSearch, Elasticsearch, pgvector, Milvus, LanceDB, Redis, and more.” | official | 2026-07-03 |
| s2 | IronCore Labs: Cloaked AI product page (customer logo wall shows HubSpot and Broadcom) “Unleash generative AI projects that use private data by protecting sensitive vector embeddings with searchable data-in-use encryption.” | official | 2026-07-03 |
| s3 | IronCore Labs: SaaS Shield product page (Thales Verified Partner badge, Broadcom customer testimonial) “Add application-layer encryption, data controls, and data transparency to your cloud app.” | official | 2026-07-03 |
| s4 | IronCore Labs: Cloaked Search product page “Sensitive data stored in Elasticsearch and OpenSearch is vulnerable to hackers. Secure it with searchable, drop-in, application-layer encryption.” | official | 2026-07-03 |
| s5 | IronCore Labs: Data Control Platform product page “Developer tools to control access to your data with encryption to build minimal trust, zero-trust, and end-to-end encrypted applications.” | official | 2026-07-03 |
| s6 | IronCore Labs blog: Announcing VectorLens (June 29, 2026) “VectorLens is a command-line tool built for security teams, privacy and GRC folks, and the developers who actually own these pipelines.” | official | 2026-07-03 |
| s7 | IronCore Labs: developer documentation portal “Use SaaS Shield with the IronCore Alloy SDK, the Tenant Security Proxy, and the Configuration Broker.” | official | 2026-07-03 |
| s8 | IronCore docs: Cloaked AI How It Works (notes the security-usability tradeoff of property-preserving encryption) “The encryption technique used in Cloaked AI is based on a paper Approximate Distance-Comparison-Preserving Symmetric Encryption by Georg Fuchsbauer, Riddhi Ghosal, Nathan Hauke, & Adam O’Neill” | official | 2026-07-03 |
| s9 | IronCore docs: Embedding Attacks “Embedding inversion attack, decodes embeddings back into their source data (approximately)” | official | 2026-07-03 |
| s10 | IronCore Labs: Trust Center (SOC 2) “That’s why we are SOC 2 certified.” | official | 2026-07-03 |
| s11 | IronCore Labs: SaaS Shield pricing (Pro tier $1,954 per month) “Pro $1,954 /mo Plus $25 per tenant for up to 100 tenants” | official | 2026-07-03 |
| s12 | IronCore Labs: Cloaked AI pricing (free AGPL tier and Pro Standalone) “Free to try (non-production uses) or for use in code bases that are open source and AGPL-compatible. Pro Standalone $1,478 /mo Manage your own keys and lifecycles for up to 1 million users and two products / projects / apps.” | official | 2026-07-17 |
| s13 | IronCore Labs blog: IronCore Named a 'Cool Vendor in Data Security' by Gartner (September 2, 2025, byline Patrick Walsh) “We’re honored to announce that Gartner has recognized IronCore in its latest report, Gartner Cool Vendors in Data Security 2025: Securing Your Data in the Age of GenAI and Quantum Computing.” | official | 2026-07-03 |
| s14 | Gartner: Cool Vendors in Data Security 2025: Securing Your Data in the Age of GenAI and Quantum Computing (abstract page, vendor names gated) “Published: 25 August 2025” | research | 2026-07-03 |
| s15 | SEC EDGAR: IronCore Labs, Inc. Form D (filed April 2024) “Total Offering Amount $ 500,000 USD or Indefinite Total Amount Sold $ 500,000 USD” | regulatory | 2026-07-03 |
| s16 | SEC EDGAR: IronCore Labs, Inc. Form D (filed January 2017, $1,500,000 offering, listing Patrick Walsh and Robert Wall as executive officers) “Within Last Five Years (Specify Year) 2015” | regulatory | 2026-07-03 |
| s17 | Help Net Security: IronCore Labs Cloaked AI protects vector embeddings (November 17, 2023) “IronCore Labs launched Cloaked AI, an SDK that protects vector embeddings with data-in-use encryption.” | press | 2026-07-03 |
| s18 | Springer: Approximate Distance-Comparison-Preserving Symmetric Encryption, SCN 2022 conference proceedings “First Online: 05 September 2022” | research | 2026-07-03 |
| s19 | arXiv: Transferable Embedding Inversion Attack: Uncovering Privacy Risks in Text Embeddings without Model Queries (accepted at ACL 2024) “revealing the potential privacy vulnerabilities in embedding technologies and emphasizing the need for enhanced security measures” | research | 2026-07-03 |
| s20 | Silicon Flatirons: Patrick Walsh, IronCore Labs, Co-founder and CEO “He’s a named inventor in multiple patents on novel cryptography and a long-time advocate for privacy and security.” | research | 2026-07-03 |
| s21 | GitHub: IronCoreLabs/ironcore-alloy (AGPL-3.0 license, active repository) “A unified SDK for IronCore encryption operations including vector encryption for AI data” | official | 2026-07-03 |
| s22 | IronCore Labs: Intellectual Property (granted patents including Secured search for ready-made search software) “IronCore Labs has obtained the following patent protections for our innovations in encryption technology, Orthogonal Access Control for Groups via Multi-Hop Transform Encryption” | official | 2026-07-03 |
| s23 | The Org: Bob Wall, Co-Founder and CTO at IronCore Labs (bio behind a free-account login wall, quote verified via the page's search-engine cache) “Bob then moved to Oracle, where they served as the chief architect for the Oracle Service Cloud, a multitenant SaaS Customer Experience application.” | other | 2026-07-17 |
| s24 | SEC EDGAR: IronCore Labs, Inc. filing list showing four Form D filings (2017-01-30, 2018-06-28, 2021-04-08, 2024-04-24) | regulatory | 2026-07-03 |
| s25 | SEC EDGAR: IronCore Labs, Inc. Form D (filed June 2018) “Total Offering Amount $ 1,499,999 USD or Indefinite Total Amount Sold $ 1,499,997 USD” | regulatory | 2026-07-03 |
| s26 | SEC EDGAR: IronCore Labs, Inc. Form D (filed April 2021) “Total Offering Amount $ 2,000,000 USD or Indefinite Total Amount Sold $ 1,566,000 USD” | regulatory | 2026-07-03 |
This site is an experimental research aid created by Zeltser Security Corp. All its data gathering and analysis was performed autonomously without human review, and it can contain errors of fact, interpretation, and judgment that a human reviewer might catch.
The analyses are statements of opinion, not statements of fact. Machine analysis produced the scores, summaries, and matrix placements by weighing the public sources each page cites, and reasonable people can weigh the same sources differently. Where a page states a fact, it cites the public source and the date it was checked, and the statement is only as accurate as that source. Unless a profile expressly says otherwise, the analysis involves no hands-on testing and no independent validation of any company's products or services.
Nothing here is professional, security, legal, financial, investment, or purchasing advice, and nothing here is a recommendation to invest in, do business with, or avoid any company. Inclusion of a company is not an endorsement, and absence of a company is not a judgment about it. Reading this site creates no advisory or client relationship. Verify any detail you plan to act on against the vendor's current materials.
The content is provided "as is" and "as available," with all warranties disclaimed, express or implied, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, accuracy, and non-infringement. No entry is warranted to be complete, current, or correct. Companies change, vendors update their claims, sources can be wrong, and automated analysis can misread them.
To the fullest extent permitted by law, the operator, Zeltser Security Corp, is not liable for any damages that arise from using this site or relying on its content, including direct, indirect, incidental, special, and consequential damages and lost profits, even if advised that such damages were possible. If you are dissatisfied with the site or disagree with these terms, your remedy is to stop using it.
Entries link to vendor pages, press coverage, and other external sites that Zeltser Security Corp does not control and is not responsible for. A link is not an affiliation with the destination or an endorsement of it. Product and company names and trademarks are the property of their owners, used here nominatively to identify the companies described. Short quotations from cited sources appear for identification and commentary.
Do not republish its content or share access without the operator's permission.