A world-class technology spinout company from Lancaster University has raised US$30m (£22.2m) in a Series A funding round as demand intensifies around AI cyber security.
Mindgard has announced it has brought in significant financing from a consortium led by Album VC, with participation from Karma Ventures and existing investors .406 Ventures, Atlantic Bridge, IQ Capital and Lakestar. The size of this round is among the largest Series A cyber security investments in a UK-based company.
Mindgard will use the funding to scale the company across product engineering, sales and marketing - in response to significant customer demand.
The London and Boston-based firm originally launched as a spin out from Lancaster University - a UK top ten ranked university and established centre of excellence for cyber security teaching and research. Mindgard combines pioneering AI security research with world-renowned offensive security expertise to assess and protect AI systems from attack. The company has made front page headlines for their work in finding AI security and safety issues within Cursor, Google Antigravity and ChatGPT.
The company was founded Lancaster researchers in the School of Computing & Communications and is the first platform to successfully capture and exploit the newly-discovered psycho-technical attack surface manifesting within AI models, agents and applications. Mindgard has now been deployed within a number of globally-leading companies across the financial services sector, pharmaceuticals, gaming, digital services, semiconductors and healthcare.
Dr Peter Garraghan, founder and Chief Science Officer of Mindgard - as well as a Professor and Research Director of the Secure AI Security Laboratory at Lancaster University, said: "AI models and agents are becoming ubiquitous across a great many sectors, creating an entirely new attack surface, and organisations need a fundamentally different approach to securing their systems.
"As organisations move AI into production, they are increasingly turning to Mindgard to discover, assess and defend against security and safety risks. Mindgard translates deep research and elite offensive-security expertise into a continuously evolving capability which enables enterprises to stay ahead of emerging AI threats."
Jessica Wenmouth, Head of Research Commercialisation at Lancaster University, said the success was a "fantastic example" of Lancaster research being translated into a commercial technology with the potential to deliver real-world impact at scale.
She added: "Mindgard is a perfect showcase for Lancaster University's commitment to the UK government's ambition to grow our deep tech economy. By supporting our brilliant academics to launch innovative companies which can be successfully scaled in the UK, we can convert our world-leading research into growth, investment and societal benefit."
Ty Boswell, Partner at Album VC, said Mindgard was leading the way in AI security.
He added: "Organisations are moving AI into critical operations without security infrastructure designed for how these systems operate in practice. We believe this team can define the AI security category."
Lancaster University is a leader in cyber security and protection science and one of only a handful of universities nationally to be identified by the National Cyber Security Centre as an Academic Centre of Excellence in cyber security research and education. Aligned to Government £5bn investment to establish the National Cyber Force in Salmesbury, Lancashire, Lancaster University is investing £19m in its security and protection science research, innovation and educational capabilities.
In 2023, Mindgard graduated from the Cyber Security Academic Startup Accelerator Programme (CyberASAP), funded by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and delivered by Innovate UK. The programme helped accelerate its journey from university research to a commercial venture bringing UK cyber security innovation to market.
Emma Fadlon and Robin Kennedy, co-directors of CyberASAP, said: "Dr Garraghan has been a fantastic supporter of and ambassador for CyberASAP since Mindgard graduated in 2023 and we are delighted that the team have achieved this Series A funding milestone."
