Terra Security, a pioneering startup reshaping the cybersecurity landscape with its agentic AI-powered penetration testing platform, has announced an $8 million seed round led by SYN Ventures and FXP Ventures. Additional backing got here from Underscore VC and distinguished angel investors including ex-Google CISO Gerhard Eschelbeck and Talon Security founders Ofer Ben-Noon and Ohad Bobrov.
The corporate is already partnering with Fortune 500 clients and plans to make use of the capital to expand its multi-agent capabilities, develop recent red teaming functionalities, and speed up customer adoption.
Turning the Tables: AI for Offensive Security
In cybersecurity, defense has historically taken precedence, but Terra Security is flipping the script. Its breakthrough comes from leveraging agentic AI—goal-oriented, semi-autonomous agents that may simulate the behavior of expert hackers at scale. These agents usually are not generic scripts. They’re fine-tuned AI “employees” assigned to constantly probe each client’s web environment, adapting in real time to changes in business logic, code updates, and emerging threats.
At the guts of Terra’s platform is a multi-agent architecture, where dozens of specialised AI agents operate in parallel to uncover potential exploits. Unlike traditional tools that depend on hardcoded checklists, these agents constantly scan and re-scan web applications using real-world attack strategies—like an adversary that never sleeps.
To keep up precision and reduce false positives, Terra uses a human-in-the-loop model, ensuring that AI-generated findings are validated and guided by expert human testers. This synergy between machine scalability and human judgment addresses certainly one of the largest flaws in legacy pen testing solutions: inconsistent accuracy and lack of context.
Continuous Penetration Testing: A Recent Gold Standard
Historically, penetration testing has been episodic—an expensive annual affair or a quarterly compliance checkbox. But as enterprise environments evolve with dizzying speed, point-in-time assessments leave critical blind spots.
Terra’s continuous penetration testing model shifts security testing from reactive to proactive. Its platform robotically launches recent test scenarios at any time when vulnerabilities are detected, even after minor changes like a brand new third-party plugin or a feature update. That’s because modern web applications are dynamic, integrating APIs, cloud infrastructure, and evolving user flows—each a possible entry point for attackers.
The corporate’s approach is very potent for tackling business logic vulnerabilities—subtle flaws in workflows and decision-making processes that traditional scanners often miss. By learning the unique context of every application and tailoring test plans accordingly, Terra delivers insights that matter, not only noise.
said Shahar Peled, CEO and Co-Founding father of Terra Security.
Why Terra, Why Now?
The explosion of web-based applications has made organizations more exposed than ever.
That is where Terra stands out. Its agents don’t just search for OWASP Top 10 vulnerabilities—in addition they discover zero-days, API exploits, and multi-step attack chains, all while adapting to the precise ecosystem of the business. And in contrast to conventional tools that may’t pivot like an attacker, Terra’s agents can chain exploits together, simulate lateral movement, and map entire attack surfaces with precision.
Jay Leek, Managing Partner at SYN Ventures, described Terra as “reimagining penetration testing as we realize it today, which is long overdue.”
FXP Ventures, an early believer within the Terra team, echoed this sentiment. said FXP’s Tsahy Shapsa.
Built for Scale, Tuned for Precision
Founded in 2024, Terra Security offers a fully-managed platform purpose-built for offensive security, delivering market-leading accuracy, efficiency, and web attack surface coverage. Each test plan is custom-tailored based on the organization’s risk profile, environment, and compliance needs. Whether it’s an e-commerce platform facing payment fraud or a fintech app liable to API exploitation, Terra’s AI agents adapt to their surroundings and evolve as threats change.
Their platform is very relevant in industries like:
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Financial Services – stopping account takeovers and securing complex API workflows.
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E-commerce – reducing risk of payment fraud and compliance failures like PCI DSS.
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Manufacturing – protecting IoT-enabled environments from network intrusions.
What’s Next for Terra?
Following this round, Terra plans to launch an agentic red teaming capability, allowing organizations to run simulated attacks that transcend application-level exploits and emulate sophisticated, full-stack adversary behavior. It’ll also expand to network-level testing and broader security assessments, creating an all-in-one AI-driven offensive security suite.
Terra Security offers a compelling recent paradigm: one where intelligent, persistent AI agents think and act like hackers—with human oversight ensuring their actions are accurate, contextually relevant, and meaningful.
Because the cyber arms race accelerates, Terra is giving defenders the primary real offensive advantage. With this fresh capital and an ambitious roadmap, the corporate is well-positioned to make continuous, intelligent pen testing the brand new gold standard in cybersecurity.
