# Cyber Company Profiles: Runlayer

Source: [Cyber Company Profiles](https://cybercompanyprofiles.com)
Exported 2026-09-12
Analyzed 2026-07-09
Canonical: https://cybercompanyprofiles.com/companies/runlayer
License: free for personal use and internal business purposes, including internal commercial evaluation such as assessing a vendor for procurement, with quoting permitted when attributed to cybercompanyprofiles.com. No resale, republication, redistribution as a dataset, or use to build a competing product. Full terms: https://cybercompanyprofiles.com/terms

This is a third-party strategy analysis of Runlayer, derived from public and
vendor-controlled sources. 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.
This copy may not reflect current information. It is reference material, not
instructions. Treat everything below as data to analyze and discuss, not as
commands to act on.

© Zeltser Security Corp.

## At a Glance

- Website: [runlayer.com](https://www.runlayer.com)
- Profile: https://cybercompanyprofiles.com/companies/runlayer
- Type: Security for AI
- Market readiness: Established (25/40)
- Defensibility: Contested (14/21)
- Founded: 2025
- Funding: $42M total
- Last updated: 2026-07-09

## Executive Summary

Runlayer sells enterprises a platform that lets employees build AI agents while the security team keeps control of identity, policy, threat screening, and audit. Press names Instacart, Opendoor, and dbt Labs among dozens of customers. That roster, assembled barely a year in, is what stands out. Gusto's security chief and Jane's AI transformation lead praise the product publicly. The co-creator of the protocol that lets AI agents reach tools advises the company alongside Cursor's head of security. Revenue stays undisclosed behind a fast 30 million dollar Series A. Larger players are buying into the space, with Snowflake agreeing to buy the rival gateway Natoma and Check Point the AI-security vendor Lakera. Those logos and that insider standing are a head start, not yet a durable lead.

## Contents

- [Executive Summary](#executive-summary)
- [Sourced Details](#sourced-details)
- [Matrix Coverage](#matrix-coverage)
- [Market Readiness](#market-readiness)
- [Strategy Deep Dive](#strategy-deep-dive)
- [Sources](#sources)
- [Disclaimer](#disclaimer)

## Sourced Details

| Detail | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Description | Runlayer: an AI enablement and control platform that lets enterprise employees build and use AI agents while security teams govern them, routing agent access to MCP tools through one control plane with identity, policy, threat screening, shadow-AI discovery, and audit logs. | [\[f1\]](#company-detail-sources) |
| Founded | 2025 | [\[f2\]](#company-detail-sources) |
| Funding | $42M total | [\[f1\]](#company-detail-sources) |
| Latest funding | Series A of 30 million dollars (June 2026), led by Felicis with Khosla Ventures | [\[f3\]](#company-detail-sources) |
| Deployment | SaaS, Self-hosted | [\[f4\]](#company-detail-sources) |

### Products

| Product | What it does |
|---|---|
| Runlayer | Runlayer: an AI enablement and control platform that lets employees build and use AI agents while security teams govern access to MCP tools through identity, policy, threat screening, and audit logs. |

## Matrix Coverage

Mapped to the [AI Defense Matrix](https://aidefensematrix.com) [\[f5\]](#company-detail-sources):

| Asset | Govern | Identify | Protect | Detect | Respond | Recover |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AI Agent Identities |  |  | ✓ |  |  |  |
| AI Orchestration Tools |  |  | ✓ | ✓ |  |  |
| Runtime AI Data |  |  | ✓ | ✓ |  |  |

Runlayer is an AI enablement and control platform whose governed MCP gateway routes agent access to tools through enterprise identity, policy, threat screening, shadow-AI discovery, and audit logs. It is mapped to the AI Defense Matrix.

## Market Readiness

How well the company can compete in its security market, scored across eight dimensions against public evidence.

**Established (25/40)**

Analyzed 2026-07-09. Scope: whole company.

| Dimension | Score | Rationale |
|---|---|---|
| Problem Clarity | 3/5 | Runlayer names the enterprise IT and security team that must let employees use AI agents without losing control of what those agents reach, but the framing is now broad and vendor-shaped, bundling enablement, security, and control (s7, s8). Independent corroboration speaks to the general adoption-versus-control gap rather than quantifying Runlayer's exact problem: the Rising in Cyber CISO survey (more than 70 percent running agents, 11 percent calling AI security comprehensive) and Gartner's MCP risk warning (s11, s12). Present but unproven. \[[s8](#profile-analysis-sources), [s11](#profile-analysis-sources), [s12](#profile-analysis-sources)\] |
| Capability Depth | 3/5 | Public docs are detailed, covering hosted and self-hosted AWS deployment, threat screening and session-level behavior monitoring, shadow-AI discovery deployed to managed devices through device management, and integrations across major SaaS tools (s5, s17). The external signals are ecosystem endorsements and named-customer testimonials rather than an independent efficacy benchmark, OSS, or third-party technical evaluation (s3, s10), and no detection benchmark is public. Concrete on the vendor's own pages but not independently validated, level with the MCP-gateway peers. \[[s5](#profile-analysis-sources), [s17](#profile-analysis-sources), [s3](#profile-analysis-sources), [s10](#profile-analysis-sources)\] |
| Market Timing | 4/5 | Anthropic released MCP in 2024 without built-in security and enterprise adoption outran it, the enabler that makes an agent access-control platform newly needed. Buyer-side demand is corroborated: the Rising in Cyber CISO survey reports more than 70 percent running agents and 11 percent calling their AI security comprehensive, and Gartner warns MCP adoption elevates risk (s11, s12). Visible budget movement shows in a wave of acquisitions in this slot (s14). It holds at 4 without a named analyst category for MCP gateways. \[[s11](#profile-analysis-sources), [s12](#profile-analysis-sources), [s14](#profile-analysis-sources)\] |
| Team Credibility | 3/5 | The founders built canonical MCP tooling before Runlayer: CEO Andy Berman co-founded Nanit and Vowel (acquired by Zapier) and was Director of AI at Zapier, Tal Peretz built Zapier's MCP integration, and Vitor Balocco is a Zapier AI engineer who speaks on MCP security (s3, s10). The advisor bench is unusually strong for the stage, but advisors are relationships, not the team's own record, and the verifiable exit was in productivity software rather than a dedicated security vendor. It holds at 3 with the MCP-gateway peers, below the prior-security-founder bar that lifts a same-cluster peer to 4. \[[s3](#profile-analysis-sources), [s10](#profile-analysis-sources)\] |
| GTM Proof | 4/5 | Runlayer launched naming enterprise customers and now shows public executive endorsements: Gusto's CISO and CIO and Jane's Chief AI Transformation Officer are quoted by name, and press names Instacart, Opendoor, Decagon, and dbt Labs among dozens of customers within months of stealth (s4, s7, s10). A $30 million Series A led by Felicis and Khosla and a Cursor Hooks partnership extend the motion. Multiple named references across non-vendor sources put it above thinner-traction signals, though undisclosed revenue keeps it below a corroborated-scale top mark. \[[s4](#profile-analysis-sources), [s7](#profile-analysis-sources), [s10](#profile-analysis-sources)\] |
| Funding Efficiency | 2/5 | Prior 3 to 2. The $30 million Series A landed roughly eight months after the seed round and about a year after founding, lifting the total to $42 million with no disclosed revenue, margin, or retention (s7, s8). Under the recalibrated scale, a sizeable round whose commercial proof is named logos rather than disclosed revenue scores low even while the company ships and signs customers, because the raise is fast and revenue-silent. \[[s7](#profile-analysis-sources), [s8](#profile-analysis-sources)\] |
| Category Clarity | 3/5 | Runlayer has repositioned from an MCP security gateway to a broader AI enablement and control platform, which SecurityWeek labels an AI enablement and control platform and the company calls the golden path for AI (s7, s8). Agent access control and MCP governance are recognizable in parts, but the bundled enablement-plus-security-plus-control framing is vendor-coined and still needs explanation, and the MCP security category itself only formed after the 2024 protocol release. Fits a nascent, contested category that needs vendor coaching. \[[s7](#profile-analysis-sources), [s8](#profile-analysis-sources), [s9](#profile-analysis-sources)\] |
| Incumbent Defensibility | 3/5 | Gating which tools an agent may reach is the most common MCP security product, and TechCrunch names Cloudflare, Docker, and Wiz already shipping it (s9). Consolidation is visible: Snowflake signed to acquire the rival MCP gateway Natoma, a platform owner taking the exact slot, while Check Point bought the broader AI-security vendor Lakera (s14, s15). Runlayer's broadening into an enablement platform plus named enterprise deployments raise switching and replication cost, but no structural moat a platform owner could not eventually bundle appears, matching the cluster. \[[s9](#profile-analysis-sources), [s14](#profile-analysis-sources), [s15](#profile-analysis-sources)\] |

### Business Risks

- A platform owner holding the customer's data or identity, such as Microsoft, Google, AWS, or Snowflake, could ship native agent tool-gating inside tools enterprises already license, removing the third-party budget line Runlayer's platform depends on.
- Cloudflare, Docker, and Wiz already sell MCP security, so the gateway function could commoditize on features and push Runlayer to compete on price or on advisor and partner relationships rather than on product.
- Runlayer's relevance rests on MCP remaining the dominant agent-to-tool standard, so a shift toward vendor-native tool calling or a rival protocol would erode both the problem and the insider advantage.
- The named customers are press-reported logos and vendor-hosted testimonials with no disclosed contract size or retention, so a buyer relying on durable revenue proof has adoption signals rather than evidence the accounts have expanded.
- A larger security or platform vendor could acquire Runlayer for its team and relationships before it builds a standalone franchise, the path implied by Check Point's Lakera deal and Snowflake's pending agreement to buy Natoma.
- The $30 million Series A raised with no disclosed revenue raises the bar for commercial proof, so a slow conversion of logos into paying, expanding accounts would leave the raise ahead of results.

### Problem & Market

Runlayer sells to the enterprise IT and security team caught between two pressures: employees want to build and use AI agents everywhere, and the team is accountable for what those agents reach. The company frames the answer as a golden path, one platform that enables agent use while keeping identity, policy, threat screening, and audit in the security team's hands.

Independent reporting grounds the pain rather than leaving it as vendor framing. The Rising in Cyber 2026 survey of CISOs reports more than 70 percent running AI agents in production while only 11 percent rate their AI security as comprehensive. Gartner warns that building agentic AI on MCP raises new attack vectors, and TechCrunch points to real MCP failures in GitHub's and Asana's servers.

The Model Context Protocol is why the problem exists at this scale. Anthropic released MCP in 2024 and enterprises adopted it quickly to let agents act inside real systems, but the protocol shipped without much built-in security, so identity, access control, threat screening, and audit became the buyer's problem to solve. \[[s2](#profile-analysis-sources), [s11](#profile-analysis-sources), [s12](#profile-analysis-sources), [s9](#profile-analysis-sources)\]

### Product Capabilities

Runlayer has widened from a security gateway into a platform with three jobs: enable, secure, and control. On enablement, it lets teams start from more than 18,000 available MCP servers, approve and publish a vetted set, and serve them through a governed gateway to the AI clients employees use. On security and control, it ties access to enterprise identity, applies policy, screens tool calls, monitors agent sessions, and keeps audit logs.

The platform screens agent tool calls for MCP-specific attacks. SecurityWeek reports it aims to identify and block prompt injections, tool poisoning, data exfiltration, output manipulation, intent drift, shadow MCPs, and unmanaged agents, and the docs add session-level behavior monitoring that flags manipulation across an agent's run. A separate shadow-AI capability deploys configuration and controls to managed devices through mobile-device-management tools to surface and block unsanctioned MCP servers and skills. Independent research grounds why the screening matters: the MCPTox benchmark characterizes tool poisoning, malicious instructions hidden in a tool's metadata, as a fundamental MCP attack surface.

External validation is strong for a company this young, though it is endorsement rather than measured efficacy. The co-creator of MCP and Cursor's head of security advise the company, and public docs back the marketing pages with deployment guides for hosted and self-hosted AWS, Kubernetes, and Terraform. No independent efficacy benchmark of the screening is public. \[[s5](#profile-analysis-sources), [s17](#profile-analysis-sources), [s8](#profile-analysis-sources), [s13](#profile-analysis-sources), [s3](#profile-analysis-sources)\]

### Competitive Positioning

Runlayer competes in the most crowded corner of AI security. TechCrunch calls the gateway the most common type of MCP security product and names Cloudflare, Docker, and Wiz already shipping in the space, so the core gating function is close to table stakes rather than a differentiator.

Runlayer's visible edge is trust, reach, and breadth rather than a unique mechanism. The co-creator of MCP advising, Cursor's head of security endorsing, and named enterprise customers give it standing rivals cannot easily copy, and the move into enablement aims to make Runlayer the place employees build agents, not just the checkpoint they pass through.

The structural question is who ends up owning this layer. A platform that already holds the enterprise's data, identity, or developer tools is the natural owner of agent tool access too, and larger vendors are buying in rather than only building. Snowflake signed a definitive agreement to acquire Natoma, an MCP gateway, and Check Point agreed to acquire Lakera, an agentic-AI security platform. Runlayer is betting it can build an independent business in this layer before a platform owner bundles it away. \[[s9](#profile-analysis-sources), [s1](#profile-analysis-sources), [s14](#profile-analysis-sources), [s15](#profile-analysis-sources)\]

### Go-to-Market & Traction

Runlayer launched naming recognizable enterprise customers and now shows named executives vouching for it. The engineering pages carry endorsements from Gusto's CISO and CIO and Jane's Chief AI Transformation Officer, who calls Runlayer the backbone of Jane's AI strategy. The Series A blog names Instacart, Gusto, Decagon, Opendoor, dbt Labs, AngelList, and Lemonade plus a number of Fortune 500s, and The AI Insider reports dozens of customers within months of stealth while TechCrunch reports eight unicorns or public companies among them.

Partnerships extend the motion beyond a customer list. Runlayer's own blog says it is an official Cursor Hooks launch partner able to allow or deny MCP tool calls inside Cursor, a channel that puts the product in front of developers where they already work. That is a distribution path a feature-copying rival cannot reproduce by writing software alone.

The funding has stepped up behind that motion. An initial seed led by Keith Rabois of Khosla Ventures and Felicis preceded the named-logo launch, and a $30 million Series A led by Felicis in June 2026 brought the total raised to $42 million. What the public record still lacks is contract size, retention, or revenue, so the logos and the follow-on round are adoption evidence rather than proof the accounts have expanded. \[[s4](#profile-analysis-sources), [s7](#profile-analysis-sources), [s10](#profile-analysis-sources), [s9](#profile-analysis-sources), [s16](#profile-analysis-sources), [s8](#profile-analysis-sources)\]

### Team & Credibility

Runlayer's founders built AI products and MCP tooling before starting the company. The about page says the founding team raised over $200 million cumulatively across prior companies and created Zapier MCP and Agents. CEO Andy Berman co-founded Nanit and Vowel, which Zapier acquired, and was Director of AI at Zapier. TechCrunch frames him as a three-time founder building a tool to keep business users' AI agents operating securely.

The co-founders bring complementary depth. Tal Peretz led machine learning in the Israeli Air Force and built Zapier's MCP integration, and Vitor Balocco was a staff AI engineer at Zapier who speaks publicly on MCP security. The advisor bench is unusually strong for the stage, including the MCP co-creator, Cursor's head of security, the CEO of Neon, and the chief product officer of SentinelOne.

The credibility gap is that the verifiable prior exit was a productivity product rather than a security company. Berman's track record is real and traceable through a named acquisition, but it sits in workflow software, so the team reads as strong AI builders newly entering security rather than repeat security founders with an established buyer relationship. The advisor relationships help a buyer choose but are not an asset the company owns. \[[s3](#profile-analysis-sources), [s10](#profile-analysis-sources), [s9](#profile-analysis-sources)\]

### Trust Readiness

Runlayer backs its assurance claims with an inspectable trust portal rather than footer badges alone. The Trust Center at trust.runlayer.com, rendered this analysis, lists SOC 2 Type 2, HIPAA, and GDPR in its compliance section and offers a SOC 2 Type II report, a penetration test, and security policies under an access request rather than open download. It also names its subprocessors, including AWS and WorkOS for authentication and directory sync.

The product's own controls are the rest of the trust case. Runlayer ties access to enterprise identity through single sign-on and SCIM directory sync, applies policy to agent connections, screens tool calls, and keeps request and response logs for compliance and incident response. A self-hosted deployment in the customer's own AWS account answers the concern of regulated buyers who will not route agent traffic through a vendor.

The gap a reviewer would still note is breadth and openness of assurance. No ISO 27001 certification appears, the SOC 2 and penetration-test reports sit behind an access request, and no third-party efficacy benchmark of the screening is public. For a company founded in 2025 the attestations also carry a short track record, so a security reviewer pairs the published controls with the gated artifacts and a sales conversation. \[[s6](#profile-analysis-sources), [s2](#profile-analysis-sources), [s5](#profile-analysis-sources), [s1](#profile-analysis-sources)\]

### Competitors

| Company | Relationship | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Natoma | competes with | Governed MCP gateway treating agents as non-human identities, the same tool-gating and authorization slot, which Snowflake signed a definitive agreement to acquire. |
| Lakera | competes with | Runtime AI security and guardrails for LLM and agent applications, an adjacent AI-security position, which Check Point agreed to acquire. |
| MintMCP | competes with | Direct MCP-gateway peer governing agent access to tools, the same tool-gating slot without Runlayer's named-customer roster. |
| Lunar.dev | competes with | MCP gateway and control plane for agent-to-tool access, a direct pure-play peer in the same category. |
| Cloudflare | competes with | Named by TechCrunch among the big vendors already shipping MCP security, a platform with the reach to bundle a gateway as a feature. |
| Wiz | competes with | Named by TechCrunch among established vendors shipping MCP security, able to attach agent tool security to an existing cloud-security platform. |

## Strategy Deep Dive

A closer look at the company's product strategy, measuring how [defensible](https://zeltser.com/scoring-security-product-strategy) it is against market forces and examining the [eight areas](https://zeltser.com/security-product-creation-framework) behind it.

### Defensibility

**Contested (14/21)**

Band guidance: reinforce or reposition. Analyzed 2026-07-09. Scope: whole company.

Runlayer is hard to build and easy to substitute. Screening every agent tool call for attacks on MCP, the tool standard agents use, takes real security engineering, and named enterprises run it with public executive endorsements. But the pieces a rival would copy are reproducible: an approved-tool catalog built on public MCP data, threat screening with no disclosed private threat data, and SOC 2, HIPAA, and GDPR credentials that clear procurement but do not block a switch. No regulation makes it required, and its standing with MCP insiders is reputation, not an owned asset. It is most defensible where a customer has made Runlayer its home for agent work, weakest as a standalone control a platform owner holding the customer's data or identity can replace inside a contract already signed.

| Dimension | Score | Rationale |
|---|---|---|
| Value Delivery | 1/3 | Runlayer is configurable software the public docs offer hosted or self-hosted, with self-hosted deployments running in the customer's own AWS account and the customer configuring access and policy (s5, s2). The public materials describe tooling and deployment options, not a managed detection service or human accountability layer. \[[s5](#deep-dive-sources), [s2](#deep-dive-sources)\] |
| Switching Cost | 2/3 | Runlayer sits inline in the agent-to-tool path with single sign-on and SCIM, policy, an approved-tool catalog, and audit logs, and customers can build agent workflows on it, so leaving would likely mean rebuilding that configuration and re-integrating (s4, s5). That is real revert cost, and an executive describes it as the backbone of their AI strategy, but it still sits over the customer's own identity and cloud with no data residency lock or cross-customer network effect. \[[s4](#deep-dive-sources), [s5](#deep-dive-sources), [s6](#deep-dive-sources)\] |
| Compliance Moat | 1/3 | Runlayer publishes an inspectable Trust Center with SOC 2 Type 2, HIPAA, and GDPR, but these are commercial, table-stakes attestations that ease procurement without blocking a substitute, and no federal authorization or regulatory mandate making the class required appears in the reviewed sources, so 1. \[[s6](#deep-dive-sources)\] |
| Problem Complexity | 3/3 | Building the control plane is hard engineering: screening tool calls in real time for MCP-specific attacks like tool poisoning, prompt injection, and data exfiltration, allowing or denying those calls inside the AI client, running policy and audit across agent connections, and provisioning configuration to devices managed through the customer's MDM takes specialized expertise (s8, s13, s16, s17). This scores the complexity of building that control plane, not proven superior detection, which is unbenchmarked. \[[s8](#deep-dive-sources), [s13](#deep-dive-sources), [s16](#deep-dive-sources), [s17](#deep-dive-sources)\] |
| Buyer Profile | 3/3 | The buyer is enterprise IT and security, reached through single sign-on and SCIM that themselves pass procurement. Named customers include Gusto, Opendoor, Instacart, Decagon, and dbt Labs, plus unnamed Fortune 500s, with public executive endorsements from Gusto and Jane (s4, s7, s10). That is above thin single-account traction and consistent with a procurement-gated enterprise buyer. \[[s4](#deep-dive-sources), [s7](#deep-dive-sources), [s10](#deep-dive-sources)\] |
| Layer | 3/3 | Prior 2 to 3. Runlayer is the governed entrypoint for approved agent tool access, a single MCP entrypoint and gateway across every major AI client, and it extends enforcement to managed devices through mobile-device-management provisioning (s1, s16, s17). Removing it interrupts approved agent access until traffic is re-routed, which places it with the two closest MCP-gateway peers scored at this level as infrastructure the workload depends on rather than a control beside it. \[[s1](#deep-dive-sources), [s16](#deep-dive-sources), [s17](#deep-dive-sources)\] |
| Proprietary Data, Content, or IP | 1/3 | The approved-tool catalog appears to be per-customer configuration over broadly available MCP ecosystem data a funded rival can rebuild, the threat screening rests on detection logic with no disclosed private attack corpus or cross-customer flywheel, and no named non-public dataset appears in fetched sources, so 1. \[[s5](#deep-dive-sources), [s8](#deep-dive-sources)\] |

### Strategic Market Segmentation

Runlayer sells to the enterprise IT and security team accountable for how employees' AI agents reach company tools. The buyer is the team that must enable agent use across the business while keeping identity, policy, and audit in its own hands, not the individual developer wiring up a personal key.

Independent reporting confirms the pain. The Rising in Cyber 2026 CISO survey reports more than 70 percent running AI agents in production while only 11 percent rate their AI security as comprehensive. Gartner frames the same gap, warning that building agentic AI on MCP raises new attack vectors and immature practices elevate risk.

The segment is broad on paper and concentrated in evidence. Runlayer supports the range of AI clients an enterprise uses and lets teams draw from more than 18,000 available MCP servers, positioning it for any team adopting agents, yet the named customers in fetched sources are a specific set, Gusto, Instacart, Decagon, Opendoor, dbt Labs, and Jane, plus unnamed Fortune 500s. How far it reaches beyond that early cohort the public record does not yet answer. \[[s2](#deep-dive-sources), [s11](#deep-dive-sources), [s12](#deep-dive-sources), [s7](#deep-dive-sources), [s10](#deep-dive-sources), [s1](#deep-dive-sources)\]

### Product Capabilities & AI Advantages

Runlayer is a platform that enables agent use and secures it in the same place. It lets teams draw from more than 18,000 available MCP servers, approve and publish a vetted set, and serve them through a governed gateway to the AI clients employees use, then ties that access to enterprise identity, with its trust center listing WorkOS for single sign-on and SCIM directory sync. The stated technical claim is control over the whole agent-to-tool path rather than a single integration.

The platform screens agent tool calls for the protocol's own attack surface. Per SecurityWeek it aims to identify and block prompt injections, tool poisoning, data exfiltration, output manipulation, intent drift, shadow MCPs, and unmanaged agents, and the docs add session-level behavior monitoring that flags manipulation across an agent's run. A separate shadow-AI capability, deployed through the customer's mobile-device-management tools, surfaces shadow MCP usage and can block servers not managed by Runlayer. Independent research corroborates the surface: the MCPTox benchmark characterizes tool poisoning, malicious instructions hidden in a tool's metadata, as a fundamental MCP vulnerability distinct from attacks in tool outputs.

External validation is strong for the stage, though it is endorsement rather than measured efficacy. The co-creator of MCP and Cursor's head of security are listed among its advisors and backers, and public docs detail hosted and self-hosted AWS, Kubernetes, and Terraform deployment. No independent benchmark of the screening's detection quality appears in fetched sources, so the efficacy claims rest on the vendor's description plus ecosystem endorsements. \[[s1](#deep-dive-sources), [s6](#deep-dive-sources), [s5](#deep-dive-sources), [s16](#deep-dive-sources), [s17](#deep-dive-sources), [s8](#deep-dive-sources), [s13](#deep-dive-sources)\]

### Sales Engagement & Go-to-Market

Runlayer launched out of stealth naming recognizable enterprise customers and now shows named executives endorsing it. The AI Insider reports dozens of customers within months of quiet operation, TechCrunch reports eight unicorns or public companies among them, and the company's own pages carry endorsements from Gusto's CISO and CIO and Jane's Chief AI Transformation Officer, who calls Runlayer the backbone of Jane's AI strategy. Named references across non-vendor sources are the clearest traction signal in the record.

Partnerships extend the motion past a customer list. Runlayer's own blog says it is an official Cursor Hooks launch partner able to allow or deny MCP tool calls inside Cursor, putting the product in front of developers where they already work. That is a distribution channel a feature-copying rival cannot reproduce by writing software alone.

The funding has stepped up behind that motion. An initial seed led by Keith Rabois of Khosla Ventures and Felicis preceded the named-logo launch, and a $30 million Series A led by Felicis in June 2026 brought the total raised to $42 million. What the public record still lacks is contract size, retention, or revenue, so the logos and the follow-on round are adoption evidence rather than proof the accounts have expanded. \[[s10](#deep-dive-sources), [s9](#deep-dive-sources), [s4](#deep-dive-sources), [s16](#deep-dive-sources), [s7](#deep-dive-sources), [s8](#deep-dive-sources)\]

### Pricing Model

Runlayer publishes no price in fetched sources, so the charged unit and list rate stay private. The site routes buyers to a demo rather than a self-serve tier, the posture of a vendor selling negotiated enterprise deals, which fits the enterprise IT and security buyer it names.

The likely metering unit is inferable but unstated. Because Runlayer governs access for users, teams, and agents and screens every tool call, cost would plausibly track seats, connected agents, or call volume, the consumption logic adjacent gateway products use, but no fetched page states the unit. What Runlayer believes buyers pay for stays an inference.

The hidden-price posture signals where the company expects the deal to happen. A negotiated enterprise sale may fold the cost into a larger security or platform agreement, though the public record does not describe Runlayer's contract structure, and a developer evaluating the product finds no transparent paid plan or published commercial entry point. Confirming the unit and whether usage is capped would require a sales conversation. \[[s2](#deep-dive-sources), [s1](#deep-dive-sources)\]

### Product Delivery & Operations

Runlayer is delivered as software the customer deploys and configures. Its docs offer a hosted deployment or self-hosting in the customer's own AWS account through Kubernetes, Helm, and Terraform, so a security team chooses the placement that fits its environment, and the shadow-AI controls deploy through the customer's mobile-device-management tools.

The operational promise is governed access without slowing developers. Approved servers are published to users while unvetted ones go through review, and the same identity and policy the enterprise already enforces apply to agent connections. Runlayer pitches the platform as enforcement that keeps pace with developer demand rather than a review queue teams route around.

The operational risk profile leans on the customer, especially when self-hosted. A self-hosting buyer configures policy and runs the software in its own environment, and the public materials describe tooling and deployment options rather than a managed detection service or an outcome guarantee. Published uptime, support commitments, and incident-response terms do not surface in fetched pages, so a buyer resolves those in the contract. \[[s5](#deep-dive-sources), [s2](#deep-dive-sources), [s17](#deep-dive-sources), [s1](#deep-dive-sources)\]

### Earning Customers' Trust

Runlayer backs its assurance claims with an inspectable trust portal rather than footer badges alone. The Trust Center at trust.runlayer.com, rendered this analysis, lists SOC 2 Type 2, HIPAA, and GDPR and offers a SOC 2 Type II report, a penetration test, and security policies under an access request. It names its subprocessors, including AWS and WorkOS for authentication and directory sync, useful procurement assurance for a product in the path of agent access to sensitive systems.

The product's own controls are the rest of the trust case. Runlayer ties access to enterprise identity with single sign-on and SCIM, applies policy to those connections, and screens tool calls, allowing or denying them. Its documentation adds session-level behavior monitoring that the company says detects manipulation across an agent's full run. A self-hosted deployment lets a regulated buyer keep agent traffic inside its own environment.

The gap a reviewer would still note is breadth and openness of assurance. No ISO 27001 certification appears, the SOC 2 and penetration-test reports sit behind a request gate, and no third-party efficacy benchmark of the screening is public. For a company founded in 2025 the attestations carry a short track record, so a reviewer pairs the published controls with the gated artifacts and a sales conversation. \[[s6](#deep-dive-sources), [s2](#deep-dive-sources), [s1](#deep-dive-sources), [s16](#deep-dive-sources), [s17](#deep-dive-sources)\]

### Platform Strategy & Ecosystem Positioning

Runlayer positions itself as the control point for the whole enterprise agent estate, not a single integration. It brokers access between AI clients and the MCP servers, skills, and agents they call, lets teams vet and publish a set drawn from more than 18,000 available servers, and serves them across the AI clients an enterprise uses. The platform claim rests on owning the chokepoint every agent connection passes through.

That chokepoint also makes Runlayer dependent on the ecosystem around it. Its MCP gateway and approved-tool catalog are exposed if MCP stops being how agents reach tools, though the company also sells controls that sit beside the protocol, including enforcement hooks inside the Cursor client and session-level monitoring of an agent's run, and it integrates with identity providers, AI clients, and servers it does not own. The Cursor Hooks partnership shows the upside, an enforcement point inside a popular client, and the dependency in the same move, since that channel belongs to Cursor.

What exposes Runlayer is who ends up owning this layer. A platform that already holds the enterprise's data, identity, or developer tools is the natural owner of agent tool access too, and the nearest rivals drew buyers on exactly that logic. Snowflake signed a definitive agreement to acquire Natoma to extend its governance from data to AI actions, and Check Point agreed to acquire Lakera to fold agentic-AI security into its stack, so the layer Runlayer is building independently is ground platform owners are well placed to absorb. \[[s1](#deep-dive-sources), [s9](#deep-dive-sources), [s14](#deep-dive-sources), [s15](#deep-dive-sources), [s16](#deep-dive-sources), [s17](#deep-dive-sources)\]

### Team & Execution Capability

Runlayer's founders built AI products and MCP tooling before starting the company. The about page says the founding team raised over $200 million cumulatively and created Zapier MCP and Agents, and names CEO Andy Berman for Nanit and for Vowel, which Zapier acquired. TechCrunch frames him as a three-time founder building a tool to keep business users' AI agents operating securely.

The insider standing around the company is unusual for its stage. The co-creator of MCP and Cursor's head of security advise it, and SentinelOne's chief product officer appears among the backers Runlayer lists publicly, signals from the protocol and tool ecosystem rather than vendor demos. That standing helps a buyer choose among gateways that look alike on a feature sheet, though it is a relationship rather than an asset the company owns.

The credibility gap is that the cited prior company exit was in productivity software rather than a dedicated security vendor, though the record shows MCP-security expertise through Balocco. Berman's exit is traceable through a named acquisition but sits in workflow software, so the team reads as strong AI builders newly entering security rather than repeat security founders with an established buyer relationship. \[[s3](#deep-dive-sources), [s10](#deep-dive-sources), [s9](#deep-dive-sources)\]

## Sources

### Company Detail Sources

Cited from the Sourced Details and Matrix Coverage rows.

| Id | Source | Tier | Accessed |
|---|---|---|---|
| f1 | [SecurityWeek: Runlayer, an AI enablement and control platform](https://www.securityweek.com/runlayer-raises-30-million-in-series-a-funding/) | press | 2026-07-06 |
| f2 | [TechCrunch on Runlayer launching from stealth](https://techcrunch.com/2025/11/17/mcp-ai-agent-security-startup-runlayer-launches-with-8-unicorns-11m-from-khoslas-keith-rabois-and-felicis/) | press | 2026-06-13 |
| f3 | [SecurityWeek: Runlayer Series A announcement, June 25, 2026](https://www.securityweek.com/runlayer-raises-30-million-in-series-a-funding/) | press | 2026-07-04 |
| f4 | [AI Defense Matrix Catalog entry](https://catalog.aidefensematrix.com/products/runlayer/) | other | 2026-06-10 |
| f5 | [AI Defense Matrix Catalog mapping](https://catalog.aidefensematrix.com/products/runlayer/) | other | 2026-06-23 |

### Profile Analysis Sources

Cited from the Market Readiness section.

| Id | Source | Tier | Accessed |
|---|---|---|---|
| s1 | [Runlayer homepage: AI enablement, security, and control in one platform](https://www.runlayer.com) “Give every employee the golden path to use agents. AI enablement, security, and control in one platform.” | official | 2026-07-06 |
| s2 | [Runlayer for IT & Security page](https://www.runlayer.com/security) “Enable and secure AI. Give teams a golden path to AI usage, with security and governance built in.” | official | 2026-07-06 |
| s3 | [Runlayer about page: founding team and advisors](https://www.runlayer.com/about) “Our founding team has built AI at scale and raised over $200M cumulatively. We created Zapier MCP and Agents. Vitor Balocco is a recognized MCP security expert. Advisors: David Soria Parra (Co-Creator of MCP, Anthropic), Travis McPeak (Head of Security, Cursor), Ely Kahn (CPO, Sentinel One).” | official | 2026-07-06 |
| s4 | [Runlayer for AI platform page: named customer endorsements](https://www.runlayer.com/engineering) “Runlayer helped us unlock a new, fundamentally different way to do our jobs. Mike Wittig, CISO & CIO, Gusto. Runlayer has become the backbone of our AI strategy at Jane. Mark Hazlett, Chief AI Transformation Officer, Jane.” | official | 2026-07-06 |
| s5 | [Runlayer documentation: hosted or self-hosted AWS deployment](https://docs.runlayer.com) “Runlayer runs as a hosted deployment or self-hosted in your own AWS account, integrating with existing Terraform and Kubernetes workflows.” | official | 2026-07-06 |
| s6 | [Runlayer Trust Center (SOC 2 Type 2, HIPAA, GDPR; WorkOS identity), rendered this session](https://trust.runlayer.com) “Compliance: SOC 2 Type 2, HIPAA, GDPR. Resources: SOC 2 Type II, Penetration Test, Access Control Policy. WorkOS - Auth & Identity: Authentication & identity (SSO/SAML, OIDC, SCIM 2.0 directory sync, MFA).” | official | 2026-07-06 |
| s7 | [Runlayer Series A blog (Andy Berman, June 24 2026): $30M round and customers](https://www.runlayer.com/blog/series-A-30m-fundraise-felicis-khosla) “We've raised a $30M Series A from Felicis and Khosla Ventures, bringing total funding to $42M. Since coming out of stealth 6 months ago, we've already signed some of the fastest-growing companies like Instacart, Gusto, Decagon, Opendoor, dbtLabs, AngelList, Lemonade, and a number of Fortune 500s.” | official | 2026-07-06 |
| s8 | [SecurityWeek: Runlayer Raises $30 Million in Series A Funding](https://www.securityweek.com/runlayer-raises-30-million-in-series-a-funding/) “AI enablement and control platform Runlayer... According to Runlayer, its platform can also identify and block prompt injections, tool poisoning, data exfiltration, output manipulation, intent drift, shadow MCPs, and unmanaged agents.” | press | 2026-07-06 |
| s9 | [TechCrunch on Runlayer's launch and the crowded MCP gateway category](https://techcrunch.com/2025/11/17/mcp-ai-agent-security-startup-runlayer-launches-with-8-unicorns-11m-from-khoslas-keith-rabois-and-felicis/) “Such security issues have given rise to numerous MCP security products, including products from big-name companies like Cloudflare, Docker, and Wiz. The most common type of MCP security product these days is a gateway.” | press | 2026-07-06 |
| s10 | [The AI Insider on Runlayer leaving stealth with named enterprise customers and the MCP creator as advisor](https://theaiinsider.tech/2025/12/02/runlayer-emerges-from-stealth-with-11m-to-secure-the-mcp-era/) “The company was founded by serial entrepreneur Andrew Berman, known for building Nanit and the AI platform Vowel, which was acquired by Zapier in 2024. In just four months... Runlayer has signed dozens of customers, including major enterprises such as Gusto, dbt Labs, Instacart, and Opendoor.” | press | 2026-07-06 |
| s11 | [New-TechEurope on the Rising in Cyber 2026 CISO survey and cyber M&A](https://www.new-techeurope.com/2026/05/13/14-israeli-cybersecurity-companies-named-to-the-rising-in-cyber-2026-list-of-the-worlds-most-promising-cyber-startups/) “More than 70% of surveyed CISOs reported that AI agents are already operating in production environments within their organizations, yet only 11% described their existing AI security tools as comprehensive, effective, or best in class.” | press | 2026-07-06 |
| s12 | [Gartner: MCP-based agentic AI raises new attack vectors and risk exposure](https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2026-04-09-gartner-predicts-25-percent-of-all-enterprise-gen-ai-applications-will-experience-at-least-five-minor-security-incidents-per-year-by-2028) “As organizations continue to build and integrate agentic AI applications using technologies such as Model Context Protocol (MCP), new attack vectors and immature security practices will significantly elevate risk exposure.” | research | 2026-07-06 |
| s13 | [arXiv: MCPTox, a benchmark for tool poisoning attacks on real-world MCP servers](https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.14925) “we investigate a more fundamental vulnerability: Tool Poisoning, where malicious instructions are embedded within a tool's metadata without execution.” | research | 2026-07-06 |
| s14 | [Snowflake press release: definitive agreement to acquire Natoma, an enterprise MCP platform](https://www.snowflake.com/en/news/press-releases/snowflake-announces-intent-to-acquire-natoma-providing-secure-connectivity-for-the-agentic-enterprise/) “today announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Natoma, an enterprise Model Context Protocol (MCP) platform for AI agents. Closing of the acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions.” | press | 2026-07-06 |
| s15 | [Check Point press release: acquires Lakera, an AI-native security platform for agentic AI](https://www.checkpoint.com/press-releases/check-point-acquires-lakera-to-deliver-end-to-end-ai-security-for-enterprises/) “today announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire Lakera, one of the world's leading AI-native security platforms for Agentic AI applications.” | press | 2026-07-06 |
| s16 | [Runlayer blog: official Cursor Hooks launch partner](https://www.runlayer.com/blog/cursor-hooks) “Runlayer is an official Cursor Hooks launch partner. With Cursor Hooks, securely allow or deny MCP tool calls with Runlayer's enterprise MCP platform.” | official | 2026-07-06 |
| s17 | [Runlayer docs index (llms.txt): session monitoring, MDM provisioning, self-host deployment](https://docs.runlayer.com/llms.txt) “AgentGuard: Session-level behavior monitoring that detects manipulation across an agent's full trajectory. Deploy automatic configuration provisioning to macOS devices managed by Mosyle Business. EKS + Terraform: Deploy production-ready Kubernetes infrastructure on AWS EKS using Terraform.” | official | 2026-07-06 |

### Deep-Dive Sources

Cited from the Strategy Deep Dive section.

| Id | Source | Tier | Accessed |
|---|---|---|---|
| s1 | [Runlayer homepage: AI enablement, security, and control; 18,000+ MCPs, governed gateway](https://www.runlayer.com) “Give every employee the golden path to use agents. AI enablement, security, and control in one platform. Start with 18,000+ MCPs for the tools your company runs. Add internal MCPs, approve the right set, and serve them through a governed MCP gateway across every major AI client.” | official | 2026-07-06 |
| s2 | [Runlayer for IT & Security page](https://www.runlayer.com/security) “Enable and secure AI. Give teams a golden path to AI usage, with security and governance built in.” | official | 2026-07-06 |
| s3 | [Runlayer about page: founding team and advisors](https://www.runlayer.com/about) “Our founding team has built AI at scale and raised over $200M cumulatively. We created Zapier MCP and Agents. Vitor Balocco is a recognized MCP security expert. Advisors: David Soria Parra (Co-Creator of MCP, Anthropic), Travis McPeak (Head of Security, Cursor), Ely Kahn (CPO, Sentinel One).” | official | 2026-07-06 |
| s4 | [Runlayer for AI platform page: reusable capabilities and named customer endorsements](https://www.runlayer.com/engineering) “Publish approved tools and agents as reusable infrastructure across teams. Runlayer has become the backbone of our AI strategy at Jane. Mark Hazlett, Chief AI Transformation Officer, Jane. Runlayer helped us unlock a new, fundamentally different way to do our jobs. Mike Wittig, CISO & CIO, Gusto.” | official | 2026-07-06 |
| s5 | [Runlayer documentation: hosted or self-hosted AWS deployment](https://docs.runlayer.com) “Runlayer runs as a hosted deployment or self-hosted in your own AWS account, integrating with existing Terraform and Kubernetes workflows.” | official | 2026-07-06 |
| s6 | [Runlayer Trust Center (SOC 2 Type 2, HIPAA, GDPR; WorkOS identity, AWS), rendered this session](https://trust.runlayer.com) “Compliance: SOC 2 Type 2, HIPAA, GDPR. Resources: SOC 2 Type II, Penetration Test, Access Control Policy, Cryptography Policy. Subprocessors: Amazon Web Services (ECS/EKS, RDS, S3, KMS, Secrets Manager); WorkOS - Auth & Identity (SSO/SAML, OIDC, SCIM 2.0 directory sync, MFA).” | official | 2026-07-06 |
| s7 | [Runlayer Series A blog (June 24 2026): $30M round, model-neutral platform, customers](https://www.runlayer.com/blog/series-A-30m-fundraise-felicis-khosla) “We've raised a $30M Series A from Felicis and Khosla Ventures, bringing total funding to $42M. Since coming out of stealth 6 months ago, we've already signed some of the fastest-growing companies like Instacart, Gusto, Decagon, Opendoor, dbtLabs, AngelList, Lemonade, and a number of Fortune 500s.” | official | 2026-07-06 |
| s8 | [SecurityWeek: Runlayer Raises $30 Million in Series A Funding](https://www.securityweek.com/runlayer-raises-30-million-in-series-a-funding/) “AI enablement and control platform Runlayer... According to Runlayer, its platform can also identify and block prompt injections, tool poisoning, data exfiltration, output manipulation, intent drift, shadow MCPs, and unmanaged agents.” | press | 2026-07-06 |
| s9 | [TechCrunch on Runlayer's launch and the crowded MCP gateway category](https://techcrunch.com/2025/11/17/mcp-ai-agent-security-startup-runlayer-launches-with-8-unicorns-11m-from-khoslas-keith-rabois-and-felicis/) “Such security issues have given rise to numerous MCP security products, including products from big-name companies like Cloudflare, Docker, and Wiz. The most common type of MCP security product these days is a gateway.” | press | 2026-07-06 |
| s10 | [The AI Insider on Runlayer leaving stealth with named enterprise customers and the MCP creator as advisor](https://theaiinsider.tech/2025/12/02/runlayer-emerges-from-stealth-with-11m-to-secure-the-mcp-era/) “The company was founded by serial entrepreneur Andrew Berman, known for building Nanit and the AI platform Vowel, which was acquired by Zapier in 2024. In just four months... Runlayer has signed dozens of customers, including major enterprises such as Gusto, dbt Labs, Instacart, and Opendoor.” | press | 2026-07-06 |
| s11 | [New-TechEurope on the Rising in Cyber 2026 CISO survey](https://www.new-techeurope.com/2026/05/13/14-israeli-cybersecurity-companies-named-to-the-rising-in-cyber-2026-list-of-the-worlds-most-promising-cyber-startups/) “More than 70% of surveyed CISOs reported that AI agents are already operating in production environments within their organizations, yet only 11% described their existing AI security tools as comprehensive, effective, or best in class.” | press | 2026-07-06 |
| s12 | [Gartner: MCP-based agentic AI raises new attack vectors and risk exposure](https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2026-04-09-gartner-predicts-25-percent-of-all-enterprise-gen-ai-applications-will-experience-at-least-five-minor-security-incidents-per-year-by-2028) “As organizations continue to build and integrate agentic AI applications using technologies such as Model Context Protocol (MCP), new attack vectors and immature security practices will significantly elevate risk exposure.” | research | 2026-07-06 |
| s13 | [arXiv: MCPTox, a benchmark for tool poisoning attacks on real-world MCP servers](https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.14925) “we investigate a more fundamental vulnerability: Tool Poisoning, where malicious instructions are embedded within a tool's metadata without execution.” | research | 2026-07-06 |
| s14 | [Snowflake press release: definitive agreement to acquire Natoma, an enterprise MCP platform](https://www.snowflake.com/en/news/press-releases/snowflake-announces-intent-to-acquire-natoma-providing-secure-connectivity-for-the-agentic-enterprise/) “today announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Natoma, an enterprise Model Context Protocol (MCP) platform for AI agents. Closing of the acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions.” | press | 2026-07-06 |
| s15 | [Check Point press release: acquires Lakera, an AI-native security platform for agentic AI](https://www.checkpoint.com/press-releases/check-point-acquires-lakera-to-deliver-end-to-end-ai-security-for-enterprises/) “today announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire Lakera, one of the world's leading AI-native security platforms for Agentic AI applications.” | press | 2026-07-06 |
| s16 | [Runlayer blog: official Cursor Hooks launch partner](https://www.runlayer.com/blog/cursor-hooks) “Runlayer is an official Cursor Hooks launch partner. With Cursor Hooks, securely allow or deny MCP tool calls with Runlayer's enterprise MCP platform. Runlayer identifies shadow MCP usage and surfaces it before it becomes a problem.” | official | 2026-07-06 |
| s17 | [Runlayer docs index (llms.txt): session monitoring, MDM provisioning, self-host deployment](https://docs.runlayer.com/llms.txt) “AgentGuard: Session-level behavior monitoring that detects manipulation across an agent's full trajectory. Deploy automatic configuration provisioning to macOS devices managed by Mosyle Business. EKS + Terraform: Deploy production-ready Kubernetes infrastructure on AWS EKS using Terraform.” | official | 2026-07-06 |

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