Samsung Venture Investment Corp., the venture capital arm of Samsung Electronics Co., has invested in Protect AI Inc., a Seattle-based startup specializing in securing artificial intelligence applications and machine learning models. The investment forms part of Protect AI’s Series B funding round, which successfully raised $60 million. Although the exact amount invested by Samsung was not disclosed, the round was led by Evolution Equity Partners and included contributions from notable backers such as 01 Advisors and StepStone Group.
Founded in 2022 by former AI experts from Amazon and Oracle, Protect AI focuses on developing an AI security posture management (AI-SPM) platform. This platform is designed to safeguard organizations’ machine learning systems and AI applications from emerging security threats and vulnerabilities. The company’s valuation has reached $400 million, supported by previous investments from Acrew Capital, Boldstart Ventures, Knollwood Capital, Pelion Ventures, and Salesforce Ventures.
With total funding reaching $108.5 million, Protect AI plans to use the new capital infusion to expand its customer success and sales teams, enhance its research and development capabilities, and strengthen its channel programs. The company’s end-to-end AI security solutions are already utilized by major corporations and public-sector clients to protect their AI models and applications.
