Can AI agents be trusted? Arcade.dev raises $12m to solve the security puzzle

Arcade.dev, a San Francisco-based startup, has raised $12 million in seed funding to tackle one of the most pressing challenges in artificial intelligence: enabling AI agents to securely interact with real-world applications. The investment round, led by Laude Ventures, also included contributions from Flybridge Ventures, Hanabi Capital, Neotribe, and notable investor Andy Rachleff. With this funding, Arcade.dev aims to refine its AI security platform, which provides businesses with a secure framework for deploying AI-powered automation across enterprise and consumer applications.

Despite rapid advancements in large language models, AI adoption in enterprise environments has been slow due to security and authentication concerns. Organizations struggle with integrating AI into their existing systems without exposing sensitive data or granting excessive permissions. Arcade.dev’s AI authorization platform offers a solution by enabling AI agents to perform authenticated actions within business applications while maintaining strict security protocols.

Why Do AI Agents Need Secure Authentication to Be Effective?

The promise of AI-driven automation has long been tempered by security risks. AI agents are capable of executing complex tasks, but without proper authentication, they pose significant security threats. Companies that attempt to integrate AI into their systems face a dilemma: they must either grant AI models broad super-user access—raising the risk of data breaches and compliance violations—or restrict AI to public, non-sensitive data, limiting its effectiveness.

Arcade.dev’s approach eliminates this trade-off by providing an AI security platform that allows AI agents to interact with enterprise applications through secure, pre-authorized pathways. This ensures that AI can take meaningful actions—such as managing emails, updating CRM records, or automating IT workflows—without exposing sensitive credentials or compromising data integrity.

According to CEO and co-founder Alex Salazar, the real challenge in AI is not just making models more intelligent, but ensuring they can securely interact with enterprise systems. He emphasized that Arcade.dev’s AI authorization platform is designed to bridge this gap by offering a structured, secure framework that allows AI agents to act on behalf of users in a controlled and auditable manner.

How Does Arcade.dev’s AI Security Platform Work?

Arcade.dev provides businesses and developers with a robust infrastructure that simplifies the integration of AI agents into enterprise systems. The platform offers hundreds of pre-built “agent tools,” a term referring to integrations that allow AI agents to securely access and interact with business applications like Gmail, Slack, GitHub, and Salesforce. These integrations enable AI-driven automation across industries such as finance, healthcare, and technology, where security and compliance are paramount.

Additionally, Arcade.dev offers a developer-friendly software development kit (SDK) that allows engineers to create and test their own secure AI integrations. With this capability, businesses can customize AI workflows to meet specific operational needs while ensuring compliance with internal security policies. The SDK enables AI agents to authenticate and interact with any API, database, or enterprise system without exposing sensitive credentials.

Investor Pete Sonsini of Laude Ventures, who led the funding round, highlighted the importance of Arcade.dev’s tool-calling capabilities. He noted that while many AI startups focus on improving model performance, few address the critical challenge of secure AI execution within real business environments. Without proper authentication mechanisms, even the most advanced AI models remain largely impractical for enterprise use.

What Sets Arcade.dev Apart from Other AI Integration Solutions?

The AI security and authentication landscape has traditionally been dominated by enterprise identity management solutions, such as those provided by Okta and Microsoft. However, these platforms were not designed specifically for AI agent authentication. Arcade.dev’s AI authorization platform is purpose-built to address the unique challenges of AI-driven automation, making it one of the first solutions to bridge the gap between AI capabilities and enterprise security requirements.

Arcade.dev’s leadership team brings deep expertise in both authentication and artificial intelligence. The company was founded by engineers with experience at Okta, where they built enterprise-grade security systems, as well as AI specialists from Redis, a company known for its expertise in real-time data processing. This combination of authentication knowledge and AI-native development positions Arcade.dev as a key player in the emerging field of secure AI automation.

What Does This Mean for AI Adoption in Enterprises?

As AI adoption continues to grow, enterprises are looking for solutions that can integrate AI-driven automation into their operations without compromising security. Arcade.dev’s AI security platform addresses this demand by providing businesses with a secure, scalable solution for deploying AI agents in real-world applications.

Companies in industries such as financial services, healthcare, and technology are already leveraging Arcade.dev’s AI integration tools to enhance productivity and streamline workflows. AI agents powered by Arcade.dev can assist with tasks such as handling customer support tickets, scheduling meetings, sending emails, and coordinating complex business processes across multiple systems.

The $12 million seed funding will allow Arcade.dev to expand its platform’s capabilities, adding more pre-built integrations, enhancing its SDK, and scaling its engineering team to support wider enterprise adoption. As businesses continue to seek secure AI-driven automation solutions, Arcade.dev is positioned to play a leading role in shaping the future of AI in enterprise environments.

About Arcade.dev

Arcade.dev is an AI-first security company specializing in AI authorization platforms that enable AI agents to take authenticated actions in enterprise applications. By addressing the critical challenge of AI authentication, Arcade.dev transforms AI applications from simple conversational tools into powerful automation solutions. Its AI security platform provides enterprises with best-in-class security, developer-friendly integrations, and a scalable framework for AI-driven business automation.