Samsung invests in US AI security startup Protect AI

Samsung Venture Investment Corp., Samsung Electronics Co.'s venture capital firm, has invested in Protect AI Inc., a US startup offering a security platform that protects artificial intelligence applications and machine learning models from security threats.

The Seattle-based startup announced on Thursday that Samsung joined multiple backers such as 01 Advisors and StepStone Group in its Series B funding round, which raised $60 million.

The size of the South Korean tech giant’s investment was not disclosed.

Protect AI, founded in 2022 by AI experts from Amazon and Oracle, offers an AI security posture management, or AI-SPM, platform designed to help organizations protect their machine learning systems and AI applications from security vulnerabilities and emerging threats.

It was valued at $400 million by Evolution Equity Partners, which led the Series B round, which was also joined by existing investors such as Acrew Capital, Boldstart Ventures, Knollwood Capital, Pelion Ventures and Salesforce Ventures.

Demand for AI-SPM platforms is expected to grow rapidly as organizations across every industry deploy AI at an accelerating pace even as AI systems cannot be protected by existing security providers, according to Ian Swanson, co-founder and CEO of Protect AI, on Thursday.

The US startup, which has raised $108.5 million to date, will use its new financing to expand its customer success and sales resources, advance its R&D capabilities and strengthen channel programs for another leap, the company said.

Large corporations and public-sector customers use its end-to-end AI security program to protect their unique machine learning models and systems, large language models and AI applications, Protect AI said.

Samsung Venture Investment was set up by Samsung Electronics and other Samsung affiliates in 1999.  

It has invested in companies — mostly startups — in sectors expected to unlock new opportunities, such as the semiconductor, information and communication technology, software, internet and bio industries.

AI has emerged as its key investment sector in recent years, driven by the worldwide generative AI boom. 

Last month, the Korean tech giant agreed to buy Oxford Semantic Technologies, a British deep tech startup, to enhance its on-device AI technology.

Write to Young Chan Song at 0full@hankyung.com

Sookyung Seo edited this article.