Horizon3.ai revenue doubles as NodeZero demand surges

Horizon3.ai said its annual recurring revenue rose 102% year on year in FY2026, with more than 5,200 organisations now using its NodeZero security testing platform worldwide.

The figures point to rising demand from enterprises and managed security service providers as customers look to identify exploitable weaknesses in live IT environments. Horizon3.ai reported 125% net dollar retention and 94% gross dollar retention, which it said reflected customer expansion and repeat use.

In the fourth quarter, 32% of bookings came through channel partners. About 70% of customers are served through managed security service providers, which the company described as one of its fastest-growing routes to market.

That mix is especially important outside the US, where local providers often play a larger role in customer acquisition and service delivery. According to Horizon3.ai, these partners use NodeZero for continuous validation services and also provide remediation, threat hunting, security operations centre optimisation and advisory work.

"MSSPs play a critical role, especially in international markets where local relationships and trust matter," said Snehal Antani, CEO and co-founder of Horizon3.ai. "They allow us to scale globally while enabling partners to build high-margin service offerings on top of NodeZero."

Testing demand

Horizon3.ai positions NodeZero as an automated penetration testing system designed to run in production environments rather than isolated test settings. The company said the platform has carried out more than 225,000 production-safe pentests across sectors including hospitals, manufacturing, financial services and critical infrastructure.

It says the system links attack paths across web applications, Active Directory, cloud environments and identity systems, allowing customers to identify combinations of weaknesses that may not be visible through standalone scanning tools or periodic manual testing.

The focus on exploitability reflects a broader shift in cybersecurity spending. Many organisations face large volumes of alerts and vulnerability reports but lack the resources to address every issue, pushing them to prioritise flaws that could be used in real attacks.

"Vulnerability prioritisation has never been more critical," Antani said. "AI is accelerating vulnerability research, and defenders are overwhelmed deciding what not to fix. Pentesting remains the most effective way to identify what is actually exploitable and focus remediation on what matters."

Dan Bird MBE, field chief technology officer for EMEA at Horizon3.ai, said the backdrop for buyers was becoming more challenging as cyber risks rose alongside geopolitical instability. He linked customer interest to the need for clearer prioritisation of risks within business systems.

"Cybersecurity is currently vital, driven both by the rapid advancement of AI and a more unstable geopolitical landscape," Bird said. "Organisations are right to take every possible step to protect their IT environments and critical business services. But the key is focusing on what can actually be exploited, and where teams need to act first."

Broader market

Horizon3.ai said its customer base ranges from large corporations to school districts, hospitals, manufacturers, banks, defence contractors and government agencies. It added that the platform is used by four of the Fortune 10, as well as large banks, pharmaceutical groups, semiconductor manufacturers and critical infrastructure operators.

These references suggest Horizon3.ai is targeting large and regulated sectors where security testing has become more frequent and operationally sensitive. In those environments, tools that can run in live systems without disrupting production are increasingly judged not just on detection rates, but on their ability to support repeated validation and remediation workflows.

Horizon3.ai also tied the current threat environment to recent guidance it issued on Iranian cyber activity targeting critical infrastructure sectors. It said organisations in the defence industrial base, financial services, utilities, telecommunications and manufacturing are using NodeZero to identify exploitable weaknesses before adversaries can act on them.

Antani said the company sees artificial intelligence reshaping both attack and defence. "The future isn't humans reacting to AI-driven attacks. It's AI fighting AI, with humans directing by exception," he said. "We built the most experienced AI hacker first, and we are now using that experience to help organisations defend themselves at machine speed."