Every year, TechCrunch’s Startup Battlefield pitch contest draws thousands of applicants. We whittle those applications down to the top 200 contenders, and from them, the top 20 compete on the big stage to become the winner, taking home the Startup Battlefield Cup and a cash prize of $100,000. The remaining 180 startups also impressed us greatly in their respective categories and compete in their own pitch competition. Here is the full list of the cybersecurity Startup Battlefield 200 selectees, along with a note on why they landed in the competition.
AIM INTELLIGENCE
What it does: AIM offers enterprise cybersecurity products that protect against new AI-enabled attacks and also use AI in that protection.
Why it’s noteworthy: AIM uses AI to conduct penetration tests of AI-optimized attacks and to protect corporate AI systems with customized guardrails. It also offers an AI safety planning tool.
CORGEA
What it does: Corgea is an AI-driven enterprise security product that can scan code for flaws and find broken code intended to implement security measures like user authentication.
Why it’s noteworthy: The product allows the creation of AI agents that can secure code and works with any popular programming language and their libraries.
CYDEPLOY
What it does: CyDeploy offers a security product that automates asset discovery and mapping of all the applications and devices on a network.
Why it’s noteworthy: Once assets are mapped, the product creates digital twins for sandbox testing and allows security organizations to use AI to automate other security processes.
CYNTEGRA
What it does: Cyntegra offers a hardware-plus-software solution that prevents ransomware attacks.
Why it’s noteworthy: By locking away a secure backup of the system, ransomware cannot succeed. It can restore the operating system, apps, data, and credentials within minutes after an attack.
HACKERVERSE
What it does: HACKERverse’s product deploys autonomous AI agents to implement known hacker attacks against a company’s defenses in an isolated battlefield.
Why it’s noteworthy: The tool tests and verifies that vendor security tools actually work as advertised.
MILL POND RESEARCH
What it does: Mill Pond detects and secures unmanaged AI within an organization.
Why it’s noteworthy: As employees adopt AI to assist them in their jobs, this tool can detect AI tools that are accessing sensitive data or otherwise creating potential security issues.
POLYGRAF AI
What it does: Polygraf AI offers small language models specifically tuned for cybersecurity purposes.
Why it’s noteworthy: Enterprises use the Polygraf models to enforce compliance, protect data, detect unauthorized AI usage, and spot deepfakes, among other applications.
TRUSOURCES
What it does: TruSources can detect AI deepfakes, whether they are audio, video, or images.
Why it’s noteworthy: This technology can work in real time for areas like identity authentication, age verification, and identity fraud prevention.
ZEST SECURITY
What it does: This is an AI-powered enterprise security platform that helps information security teams detect and solve cloud security issues.
Why it’s noteworthy: Zest helps teams quickly keep up with and mitigate known but unpatched security vulnerabilities. It also unifies vulnerability management across clouds and applications.