In October 2024, Zenity announced their Series B funding round of $38M, led by Third Point Ventures and DTCP, with strong support from M12 and other existing investors Intel Capital and Vertex Ventures. Zenity is the first end-to-end security and governance platform that gives enterprises visibility and control over AI Agent behavior; what they access, what they do, and the tools they invoke. Zenity provides full lifecycle protection for any agent across SaaS, custom agent platforms, and end-user devices. Built for Fortune 500 enterprises to enable business innovation, Zenity delivers comprehensive protection across the entire AI Agent lifecycle – combining observability, posture management, and threat detection in one unified platform. 

In this edition of Founders Feature, we connected with Zenity Co-Founder and CEO Ben Kliger to learn more about how Zenity got its start, its evolution over time as AI becomes more ubiquitous, and his vision for the company’s future.  Here’s what he had to share:  

What inspired you to start Zenity?

Ben: My passion for making technology accessible to more people has guided much of my career and was the guiding principle for founding Zenity. Over the course of my career, I saw how empowering business users to harness developer-like power could drive innovation, but I also saw the risks when various apps, automations, and workflows were built without the right, or any security visibility. As such, the primary security response was to block rather than empower business users. We founded Zenity to change that. We help security teams support business users safely, with purpose-built tools that enable innovation without compromise.

Can you describe a significant pivot or change in strategy that your company has made?

Ben: The rise of AI, and AI Agents in particular, has fundamentally changed the landscape of enterprise security, and Zenity has adapted accordingly. Zenity started with a focus on securing the applications and workflows created by business users. However, as AI became more integrated into these processes, we recognized the need to address the unique security challenges posed by AI agents operating within business environments. This was not a pivot, but a natural progression of our original mission, as everything that we were doing for low-code/no-code applies directly towards securing AI Agents, giving us a distinct head start with the rise of agentic platforms. We continue to focus on securing what business users are building and using, but now with a heightened emphasis on AI-driven solutions. This approach ensures that we stay ahead of emerging threats and provide comprehensive security for modern enterprises.

What do you wish you had known before starting your company?

Ben: There have been many lessons along the way that we have learned, but so many of them are still unfolding. The common thread of what we have learned along the way is that we can never stop learning and evolving as we grow and scale the business. 

How do you see your company evolving in the next 5-10 years?

Ben: I see Zenity scaling at the pace of enterprise AI agent adoption swiftly. As more business units build, customize, and use AI Agents, the need for security and governance becomes even more critical. The growth will push us to expand in engineering, go-to-market, and operations. We are also investing heavily in strategic partnerships to help our customers succeed on a global scale. Our aim is to build a company that grows with the category and shapes it along the way. 

Can you describe a key partnership that has significantly benefited your company?

Ben: Our ongoing relationship and partnership with M12 and Microsoft has had a major impact. From the strategic investment through M12 which gave us early momentum, we have continued to collaborate with Microsoft MVPs, Black Belts and internal security teams to address real-world security challenges. These efforts have helped us deepen our understanding of technical capabilities and necessities that our customers need, and to better understand the scale of the enterprise landscape and the customers that we serve. It has been a true partnership in every sense. This partnership has not only supported our growth from an investment and sales perspective, but also enriched our understanding and capabilities across all areas of the business.

What legacy do you hope to leave through your work? 

Ben: My goal is to build a company that has staying power and makes an impact in not just improving security, but enables the world’s enterprises to harness the power of the latest advancements in technology and business enablement. One that stays customer-obsessed, remains intellectually curious, and continually tackles the most critical security challenges. If Zenity empowers businesses to innovate safely and confidently, then that’s a legacy I’ll be proud to leave behind.