Hadrian Raises $40 Million for AI Agents That Test Like Hackers

On Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026, cybersecurity startup Hadrian announced it has raised $40 million to grow its "offensive security" platform, which uses AI agents to attack a company's systems the way a real hacker would, so problems can be fixed first. The round was led by Forgepoint Capital International and Smartfin, according to SiliconANGLE and Tech.eu.

What happened

Hadrian, which operates from London and Amsterdam, was founded by Rogier Fischer, who serves as CEO, along with Olivier Beg and Maurice Clin. HV Capital, Motive Partners, Picus Capital and Oetker Ventures also joined the round. The new money brings Hadrian's total funding to about $65 million, according to Tech.eu and EU-Startups.

The platform has two main parts. Atlas continuously maps everything a company has exposed to the internet, such as websites, servers and cloud services, and checks which weaknesses could actually be exploited. A second product runs on-demand penetration tests, where AI agents try to break in using real attack methods.

Hadrian says its customers include McKesson, NBCUniversal, TotalEnergies, Amadeus, Leroy Merlin and Damen Shipyards. The company plans to use the funding to expand in Europe and the U.S. and to grow its engineering and research teams.

"AI can work much faster than any human offensive security team," Fischer said, according to EU-Startups. "So we built a platform that emulates hackers' attack paths."

SiliconANGLE also reported figures shared by Hadrian: 87% of organizations still rely on manual penetration tests, and only 0.47% of the issues flagged by vulnerability scanners turn out to be exploitable.

Why it matters

Most companies are drowning in security alerts. Traditional scanners produce long lists of possible problems, and teams cannot fix them all. If less than half a percent of those findings can really be used by an attacker, as Hadrian's numbers suggest, then most of that effort is wasted.

At the same time, attackers are using AI to find and exploit weak spots faster than ever. A yearly manual penetration test, where a security firm tries to break in once and writes a report, cannot keep up with systems that change every day.

Hadrian's pitch is to fight AI with AI: keep agents running all the time, test like a real attacker and show teams the few problems that matter most. Investors are betting that this "always-on" approach becomes the standard.

The funding also fits a wider pattern. Security budgets are shifting toward tools that prove a risk is real before a team spends time on it. A short list of confirmed, exploitable problems is far more useful to a busy team than thousands of warnings, and that is the gap Hadrian is trying to fill.

What this means for founders and builders

Security is no longer something only big companies worry about. Every app with logins, payments or customer data is a target. Here is what that means for anyone launching software:

Build security in from day one. Secure logins, encrypted data and regular updates are much cheaper to set up at the start than to patch after a breach.

Know what you have exposed. Many breaches start with something forgotten, like an old test server or an unused admin page. Keep a simple list of every service your product uses.

Buyers will ask. If you ever plan to sell your software or your company, buyers will check how it was built and secured. Clean, well-structured code makes a product more valuable.

That last point is a big part of how KIING DIGITAL LABS builds. Every product listed on our Acquisitions page is a complete, working platform built with modern standards. If you need something built for your own idea, a custom build gives you a product designed with security and scale in mind from the start. Have questions first? Visit our FAQ.

The bottom line

Hadrian's $40 million raise shows that AI agents are moving into cybersecurity as both a threat and a defense. Companies want tools that test like real attackers and point to the few risks that matter. For builders, the lesson is to treat security as part of the product, not an afterthought.

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• CYBERSECURITY
• AI AGENTS
• FUNDING
• STARTUPS