Cisco in advanced talks to acquire AI security startup Astrix for up to $350 million
The Israeli startup, backed by Menlo Ventures and Anthropic, targets growing risks from non-human identities and autonomous AI agents.
Cisco is in advanced talks to acquire Astrix Security, an Israeli cybersecurity startup focused on securing artificial intelligence agents, in a deal that could value the company at between $250 million and $350 million, according to a report by The Information.
The potential acquisition reflects a growing urgency among large technology companies to address the rise of non-human identities and autonomous AI agents operating inside corporate systems.
Founded in 2021 by Alon Jackson and Idan Gour, both veterans of Israel’s elite Unit 8200, Astrix has positioned itself around what it describes as a critical blind spot in modern cybersecurity. Its platform is designed to give enterprises visibility into “non-human identities” - software agents, automated processes, and increasingly AI-driven tools - and to detect and remediate excessive or malicious access before it leads to breaches.
The company’s focus has gained traction as organizations accelerate the adoption of artificial intelligence across their operations. AI agents, often granted broad permissions to interact with internal systems and external services, introduce new vulnerabilities that traditional identity and access management tools were not built to handle.
Astrix’s platform enables companies to connect third-party and in-house applications securely, while monitoring and controlling the permissions granted to non-human actors. The goal is to prevent supply chain attacks and data leaks, particularly those stemming from over-privileged or compromised machine identities.
In December 2024, Astrix announced a $45 million Series B funding round, bringing its total funding to $85 million. The round was led by Menlo Ventures through its Anthology Fund, a partnership with the artificial intelligence company Anthropic, and included investors such as Workday Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, CRV and F2 Venture Capital.
At the time, the company said its revenue had increased fivefold over the previous year, while its workforce tripled to around 80 employees. Its customer base includes Fortune 500 companies and clients such as Workday, NetApp, Priceline and Figma.
The company’s growth strategy has been closely tied to the expansion of AI adoption. Jackson said previously that organizations are eager to embed AI across their operations but lack the tools to manage it securely. “Many organizations want to integrate AI into every aspect of their work, but they need robust security,” he said. “Our platform ensures that AI agents are not only effective but also secure and properly managed.”
At the time of its Series B, the company emphasized that it was building for long-term independence in what it viewed as a “winner-takes-all” market.
“We didn’t raise this round to sell the company within a year or two,” Jackson said then. “We’re building a company that can lead in a highly competitive market.”
