Berlin-based cybersecurity startup Cygrid has emerged from stealth with €2.66 million in pre-seed funding. The company is developing a security platform that controls who can access sensitive and confidential information.
The funding round was led by Atlantic, a pan-European pre-seed investment fund, with participation from D11Z. Ventures. Several angel investors also joined the round, including Boris Gorin, VP of Product at Zscaler and founder of Canonic Security; Andreas Bermig, CEO of bonify; and Vlad Tropko of AmberVale Capital.
“Access control tells you who can log in. It says nothing about what they do next. Every identity in an enterprise can act, and once a token is valid, not one control in the stack can stop the action. Cygrid is the platform that does: it decides what each identity may do and enforces it before anything executes,” said Kharchenko, CEO and co-founder, Cygrid.
Cygrid was founded in January 2026 by Dmitry Kharchenko and Dekel Paz, both of whom previously served in Israeli Military Intelligence. They identified a security gap as more companies began using AI agents to handle tasks and access business information.
The company aims to address this problem by changing how businesses manage identities and control access to sensitive information. Its platform is designed to help companies monitor and manage access for employees, software systems and AI agents.
Unlike traditional identity management tools, which mainly check access when a user signs in, Cygrid continuously monitors what an AI agent does. It can block or limit an action in real time if it detects a potential security risk.
Cygrid also brings human, software and AI agent identities together in one system. This helps businesses understand what each identity can access, what actions it takes and on whose behalf it operates. According to the company, this approach can help revoke forgotten access tokens within seconds and stop risky AI commands before they are carried out.
“Dmitry and Dekel are proven builders who combine deep cybersecurity experience with a real understanding of what enterprises need: security that stops the wrong action without slowing the business down. AI agents are widening the identity attack surface faster than any control can keep up. Intelligence-driven enforcement is the only answer that scales. The timing for Cygrid couldn’t be better,” said Marc-Olivier Lücke, General Partner, Atlantic.
Cygrid will use the new funding to improve its security technology, hire more employees and expand its business across Europe. The startup aims to become a European alternative to AI identity security providers based in the US and Israel.
