‍SAN FRANCISCO and ZURICH - April 24, 2025 – Lakera, the world’s leading real-time security platform for generative AI applications, today announced that it has been named to the 2025 AI 100, CB Insights’ ninth annual List of the 100 Most Innovative AI Startups in the world.
“We’re honored to be recognized by CB Insights as one of the world’s most innovative AI startups,” said David Haber, CEO and co-founder of Lakera. “This distinction is a testament to the relentless dedication of our team, our deep commitment to securing AI, and the trust our customers place in our AI-first approach to protecting their applications from AI cyber risk. At Lakera, we’re building more than solutions—we’re shaping the future of safe and secure AI integration.”
The list recognizes early—and mid-stage startups that are leading the way in applying AI across industries and architectures. CB Insights’ research team picked winning companies based on their datasets, including deal activity, industry partnerships, team strength, investor strength, employee headcount, and proprietary Commercial Maturity and Mosaic scores. They also dug into Analyst Briefings submitted directly to them by startups.
“The AI 100 winners are future movers and shakers, taking big swings that will shape the future of AI,” said Manlio Carrelli, CEO at CB Insights. “This year’s cohort is pushing AI applications from emerging to emerged, working on everything from AI agents for complex processes to security and robotics. They’ve also zeroed in on new and promising technologies that might not be on the radar of many enterprises — multi-agent systems, novel computing and data curation approaches, and physical AI.”
Lakera is the world’s leading real-time GenAI security company. Customers rely on the Lakera AI Security Platform for security that doesn’t slow down their AI applications. Lakera’s unique position in tackling these challenges is due in part to their AI educational game, Gandalf, that serves as the world's largest AI red team. With millions of users and thousands of organizations worldwide where it's used in security training, Gandalf generates real-time AI threat data that grows by tens of thousands of unique new attacks every day. The 50+ million data points generated by Gandalf are one of the data sources for our research team. Research combined with our founding team's deep experience in building AI systems with real-time requirements, ensures that our customers can stay ahead of threats and deliver secure and blazingly fast user experiences.
Quick facts on the 2025 AI 100:
- The 100 winners include 21 startups in AI agent platforms and infrastructure, 12 in AI observability and governance, and 12 in physical AI technology and building blocks.
- The 2025 cohort is deploying AI across horizontal applications (customer service, process automation), infrastructure (AI observability, AI agent building), and verticals (healthcare and life sciences, industrials, financial services).Â
- Collectively, these companies have raised $11.4B in equity funding over time, including more than $2.3B in 2025 (as of 4/16/2025).
- Nearly 75% are early-stage companies (Series A or earlier).
- 27 companies are based outside the United States, spanning 13 countries. This includes companies in developing and competitive AI markets like France and South Korea.
- The cohort has formed 315+ business relationships since 2023, including with industry leaders like NVIDIA, Google, and Uber.Â
About Lakera
Lakera is the world’s leading real-time GenAI security company. Customers rely on Lakera for security that doesn’t slow down their AI applications. To accelerate secure adoption of AI, the company created Gandalf, an educational tool, where millions of users and thousands of organizations worldwide have learned about AI security. Lakera uses AI to continuously evolve defenses, so customers can stay ahead of emerging threats. Lakera was founded by David Haber, Mateo Rojas-Carulla and Matthias Kraft in 2021. To learn more, visit: Lakera.ai, and connect with us on LinkedIn.
About CB Insights
CB Insights is an AI super analyst for market intelligence. It delivers instant insights that help you bet on the right markets, track competitors, and source the right companies. Our AI super analyst is powerful because it is built on the validated database of companies and markets that CB Insights is famous for. To learn more, please visit www.cbinsights.com.
Media Contact
Lacey Haines
Corporate Communications
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