NewCore, a cybersecurity startup, has officially emerged from stealth mode, announcing a substantial $66 million in funding. The company aims to tackle a burgeoning challenge for enterprises: effectively authenticating, governing, and controlling AI agents at scale as they become integral parts of the workforce.

The seed funding round was spearheaded by Cyberstarts, a venture firm specializing in cybersecurity, with additional participation from Index Ventures and Evolution Equity Partners. This investment round values NewCore at $300 million post-money, signaling strong investor confidence in its vision.

As businesses increasingly integrate AI agents into their operations, these digital entities are evolving beyond simple software tools to function as active workplace participants. Examples include Goldman Sachs’s trial of the AI coding agent Devin as a new employee and McKinsey’s report of 25,000 AI agents already working alongside its 60,000 human employees. NewCore’s co-founder and CEO, Zohar Alon, a veteran in cloud security, believes that existing identity platforms, often 15-20 years old, are ill-equipped for this future hybrid workforce, making identity systems a critical vulnerability in enterprise security.

NewCore’s platform is engineered to manage both human and AI-agent identities within a unified system. It advocates for treating AI agents as “first-class identities” with their own distinct permissions, lifecycle controls, and revocation mechanisms, moving beyond traditional service accounts. The company differentiates itself from established identity providers like Okta and Microsoft’s Entra, arguing that while these vendors are adding AI capabilities, their platforms were fundamentally designed for human employees. NewCore, conversely, was built from the ground up for an ecosystem comprising humans, machines, and AI agents. Its innovative features include a “split-key” architecture for enhanced security and an “Agentic Skill” integration package for coding assistants such as Anthropic’s Claude Code, OpenAI’s Codex, and Cursor, allowing them secure access to enterprise systems. Furthermore, a mobile app provides a human oversight layer for managing AI agent access.

With a team of over 50 employees across the U.S. and Israel, NewCore is currently engaged with fewer than 10 customers and more than 10 design partners, with plans to begin charging for its services this summer. Alon anticipates that AI agents could outnumber human employees in many technology-focused organizations within a few years, a sentiment echoed by TCS chairman N. Chandrasekaran. He emphasizes that identity management will likely be one of the first enterprise systems strained by the large-scale deployment of AI agents, underscoring the urgent need for new guardrails to monitor, authorize, and revoke access for these software workers.

Key Takeaways

• NewCore secured $66 million in funding to address the critical challenge of managing identities for AI agents within enterprise environments.
• The startup's platform treats AI agents as "first-class identities," offering dedicated authentication, governance, and control mechanisms distinct from traditional human-centric systems.
• NewCore aims to provide essential security infrastructure as AI agents become an increasingly integral and numerous part of the corporate workforce, predicting they could soon outnumber human employees in some organizations.

Editor’s Analysis & Impact

The emergence of NewCore with significant funding highlights a pivotal shift in enterprise security, driven by the accelerating adoption of AI agents. Traditional identity and access management (IAM) systems, primarily designed for human users, are proving inadequate for the unique demands of autonomous AI entities. This creates a burgeoning, specialized market segment within cybersecurity, indicating a future where AI identity management will be as crucial as human identity management.

NewCore’s ground-up approach positions it to become a key player in this evolving landscape. The market impact will likely see increased investment and innovation in AI-specific security solutions, pushing established vendors to adapt more rapidly. Broader implications include a redefinition of the ‘workforce’ to encompass both human and digital employees, necessitating new governance frameworks, compliance standards, and robust security protocols to manage this hybrid environment effectively and mitigate potential risks associated with autonomous systems.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What problem does NewCore aim to solve?
A: NewCore addresses the challenge of authenticating, governing, and controlling AI agents at scale within enterprise environments. It recognizes that traditional identity systems are not designed for this new digital workforce, which is increasingly being treated as 'employees' rather than mere tools.

Q: How does NewCore's approach differ from existing identity providers?
A: Unlike established vendors who often extend platforms built for human employees, NewCore's platform is designed from the ground up to manage both human and AI-agent identities in a single system. It treats AI agents as 'first-class identities' with dedicated permissions, lifecycle controls, and revocation mechanisms, offering a purpose-built solution for the hybrid workforce.

Q: What is the significance of AI agents becoming 'employees'?
A: The trend of companies deploying AI agents for tasks traditionally performed by humans means these agents require robust identity management, permissions, and oversight, similar to human staff. This ensures security, compliance, and efficient operation, and necessitates new 'guardrails' to manage their presence and actions within enterprise networks.