3 February 2026

 

On 14 January 2026, Belgian cybersecurity startup Aikido Security announced a $60m Series B funding round, valuing the company at $1bn and earning it “unicorn” status — the venture capital term for privately held companies valued at one billion dollars or more. The round was led by DST Global, with participation from PSG Equity, Singular, and Notion Capital, and marked one of Europe’s most notable cybersecurity raises of the year. According to Reuters, the company plans to use the capital to accelerate product development and international growth, particularly in the United States.

Founded in 2022 and headquartered in Ghent, Aikido’s rise has been rapid even by startup standards. For Belgium’s technology ecosystem, the funding is a rare milestone. For the cybersecurity industry, it arrives at a moment of growing tension: organisations are producing more software than ever, security teams are stretched thin, and investors are increasingly selective about which “platform” stories they believe can scale sustainably.

What Aikido actually does — explained plainly

Aikido Security positions itself as a tool that helps companies identify and fix security risks in the software they build and run, without overwhelming teams with alerts they cannot realistically act on.

In practical terms, the platform is designed to monitor three core areas:

• Code — the software developers write

• Cloud infrastructure — the online systems where software is hosted

• Runtime environments — where applications operate day-to-day

Rather than treating these areas as separate problems, Aikido aims to bring them together in a single interface. The company argues that this approach shortens the gap between discovering a security issue and actually resolving it — a persistent problem in modern software development.

This ambition is not new. The cybersecurity market is crowded with tools that promise consolidation and simplicity. What Aikido is betting on is usability: that developer-friendly security, integrated early into software workflows, can reduce friction instead of adding to it.

The funding round and who backed it

According to Reuters, the $60m Series B values Aikido at $1bn and follows approximately $24m in earlier funding, bringing total capital raised to more than $80m. The news agency also reported that the company counts customers such as Revolut, SoundCloud, and Niantic, and that its tools are aimed at developers increasingly influenced by artificial intelligence in how they write software.

TechCrunch included Aikido in its overview of Europe’s new unicorns in early 2026, confirming the investors and valuation.
Sifted described the company as offering a “no-nonsense” approach to software security, highlighting its attempt to reduce complexity rather than add another standalone tool.
SecurityWeek reported that the round places Aikido among the best-funded young cybersecurity companies in Europe.
Aikido itself published the funding announcement on its website the same day.

Across these sources, the core facts align: a $60m Series B, unicorn valuation, global investors, and a company barely four years old.

Why “unicorn” status matters — and why it can mislead

A $1bn valuation does not mean $1bn in revenue, profit, or cash. It is a negotiated price, reflecting investor expectations about future growth, market size, and competitive positioning. The “unicorn” label is powerful because it signals momentum — to customers, recruits, and partners — but it also risks oversimplifying reality.

Cybersecurity history is full of companies that raised large rounds and still struggled to convert early excitement into long-term adoption. Security buyers are famously cautious. They are less interested in bold claims than in measurable risk reduction, predictable costs, and tools that integrate smoothly into existing workflows.

From that perspective, Aikido’s valuation is best understood not as a finish line, but as a test of whether its approach can scale without becoming part of the problem it claims to solve.

The broader context investors are betting on

Two structural shifts help explain investor appetite for companies like Aikido.

First, software is everywhere. Organisations in nearly every sector now build and operate their own applications. This expands the market for security tools, but also means many companies lack deep in-house security expertise.

Second, software is being created faster than ever. Reuters linked Aikido’s positioning to the growing role of artificial intelligence in software development — which increases the volume of code and, with it, the potential for security weaknesses. In that environment, security tools that slow development are often bypassed, regardless of their theoretical effectiveness.

Aikido’s leadership has framed its product as providing “guardrails” rather than roadblocks — a metaphor that resonates in an industry where security is often seen as an obstacle to speed.

What the company has disclosed so far

Reuters reported that Aikido achieved fivefold revenue growth over the past year, with around half of its revenue coming from the United States. The company also said its customer base has nearly tripled during that period.

These figures suggest that Aikido’s story is not purely European. Like many ambitious startups from the region, it appears to be building product and engineering in Europe while pursuing commercial scale in the US — still the largest market for enterprise cybersecurity.

Aikido’s own materials emphasise fast onboarding, automated prioritisation of issues, and broad coverage across the software lifecycle. The company’s messaging consistently focuses on reducing noise rather than increasing visibility for its own sake.

The hard question: does consolidation really reduce security risk?

Most security teams complain about two things at once: too many tools and too many alerts. Aikido’s promise speaks directly to both frustrations.

But consolidation alone does not guarantee clarity. A single platform can still generate volumes of warnings. The real measure of effectiveness is whether teams are able to act differently because of the tool — fixing the issues that matter most, faster and more consistently.

This is where slogans and reality diverge. Sifted’s description of Aikido as “no BS” captures the tone the company is aiming for, but credibility in cybersecurity is earned through daily use, not messaging. The environments these tools operate in are messy: legacy systems, time pressure, and uneven skills are the norm, not the exception.

What this means for Europe’s deeptech narrative

Cybersecurity is one of the few technology sectors where Europe has repeatedly produced globally relevant companies. Regulation, trust, and enterprise buying behaviour often play to European strengths.

Aikido’s rise touches several recurring themes in European tech debates:

• Talent outside traditional hubs, with Ghent emerging as a credible base

• Speed, moving from founding in 2022 to unicorn valuation in early 2026

• International ambition, with significant US revenue already in place.

The encouraging signal is not the valuation itself, but the suggestion that European-founded companies can still compete in demanding global markets without relocating their core identity.

A grounded takeaway

The most useful way to read Aikido’s Series B is to separate signal from hype.

The signal is clear: a young European cybersecurity company has attracted top-tier global investors, demonstrated rapid revenue growth, and convinced customers to adopt its platform in a notoriously skeptical market.

The hype risk lies in assuming that valuation equals impact. Security is not a one-off purchase; it is a long-term operational discipline. The companies that endure are those that become embedded in daily workflows and consistently reduce meaningful risk, rather than simply reporting on it.

If Aikido succeeds on those terms, its unicorn label will be a footnote — not the headline. And that, ultimately, is how real progress in cybersecurity is measured.

 

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