Rilian raises USD $17.5 million to expand AI cyber platform

Rilian has raised USD $17.5 million in seed and seed extension funding in a round led by 8VC, First In and Tamarack Global.

The cyber and defence startup will use the money to expand in the United States, Gulf Cooperation Council countries and other allied markets, while hiring staff and advancing research on AI-led cyber and defence systems.

Founded by Christian Schnedler, Nick Pompeo and Dan Fischer, Rilian sells a platform called Caspian. The platform is designed to help governments, critical infrastructure operators and private sector organisations deploy and automate cyber tools across cloud, on-premise and air-gapped environments.

Rilian is targeting a market in which governments and infrastructure operators face growing pressure to respond more quickly to cyber threats and broader hybrid conflict. It argues that security teams are often constrained by staff shortages and by the challenge of using a growing number of technical products across large, fragmented systems.

That pitch comes as cyber security spending continues to rise. Rilian cited industry estimates showing global cyber security and risk management spending now exceeds USD $200 billion a year. It also said the government and public sector cyber security market is expected to grow from about USD $45 billion to USD $50 billion in 2025 to more than USD $70 billion by 2030.

Other investors in the round included 8090 Industries, Liquid 2 Ventures, Perot Jain and Protego Ventures.

Platform focus

Rilian says Caspian provides a single control layer across existing tools and systems. It uses pre-trained AI agents to automate certain security tasks, support analysts and help organisations deploy new functions in environments with strict compliance or sovereignty requirements.

The software is aimed at both commercial and national-scale use cases, including critical infrastructure settings and government operations where systems may be isolated from public networks or subject to operational restrictions.

Rilian has already signed work in the Gulf. In July 2025, it entered a contract with the UAE Cybersecurity Council to support critical infrastructure security, with the UAE's National Security Operations Centre using Caspian across operational technology environments.

Under the agreement, AI agents are being developed and trained to assess risks and respond to threats at a national level. The project also involves technology partners from the UAE, the US and other allied countries.

The startup also says it has formed partnerships with cyber and defence technology providers, cloud groups and large language model developers, including SentinelOne, Censys and SimSpace.

Founder view

Christian Schnedler framed the company's argument around execution rather than access to tools.

"For many national security organizations, the challenge of executing their mission is not a lack of budget or technology; it is the effective utilization of technical capabilities with limited skilled manpower," said Christian Schnedler, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Rilian. "Silicon Valley, Tel Aviv, Northern Virginia, and other innovation hubs regularly produce impactful capabilities. Unfortunately, these take years to scale within governments at home, let alone deploying to global conflict zones where defenders need them most. Rilian was built to turn security into an execution success, not a procurement and human staffing problem."

He also linked the funding to the company's government and critical infrastructure expansion.

"This funding accelerates our mission to ensure that the U.S. government, its Allies and critical infrastructure providers globally can access and operationalize the most advanced security capabilities through the power of agentic AI - with the speed, trust, and compliance their missions demand," Schnedler said.

Investor backing

Investors described the company as part of a broader shift in defence and cyber procurement toward AI-based software and automation.

"Rilian is redefining how sovereign organizations access and operationalize advanced cyber and defense capabilities. They sit at the intersection of AI, national security, and critical infrastructure; exactly where the stakes are highest and the legacy playbook is failing. We believe Rilian's platform approach, and its ability to work alongside the best innovators in the ecosystem, positions the company to become foundational infrastructure for modern sovereign defense," said Alex Moore, Partner at 8VC.

First In made a similar case for the company's position in the market.

"Rilian has identified and is executing on one of the most critical unsolved problems in national security: the gap between the world's best cyber and defense technologies and the governments and enterprises that need them. Caspian isn't just a product. It's tomorrow's infrastructure. Infrastructure that gets smarter with every deployment is exactly the kind of compounding, category-defining advantage that transforms how an industry operates," said Renny McPherson, Managing Partner at First In.

Tamarack Global pointed to the difficulty of deploying software in sensitive government settings.

"Agentic AI will define the next generation of mission systems. Rilian is building the connective tissue that enables governments to integrate advanced cyber and defense technologies into real operations at national scale. The team's deep understanding of how programs are actually fielded - across air-gapped and contested environments - is exactly what is needed to turn AI from slideware into capabilities that protect lives," said John McCormick, Founder and Managing Partner at Tamarack Global.