Defakto Raises $30.75M to Lead Non-Human Identity Space

A non-human identity startup led by an ex-Oracle executive raised $30.75 million to expand features around artificial intelligence identity detection and deepen integrations with cloud providers.

See Also: Identity-Based Attacks – When MFA Isn’t Enough

Defakto said the Series B funding will address the discovery and governance of AI workloads and agents and allow for integrations with cloud and adjacent technology platforms, said co-founder and CEO Danny Oliveri. He said the Silicon Valley-based company’s platform focuses on managing the life cycle of machine identities, with a particular emphasis on governance, discovery and eradication.

“Product development is really for us expanding on AI identity capabilities and deepening integrations with major cloud providers and AI frameworks,” Oliveri told Information Security Media Group. “We need to educate the market that non-human identity is a critical problem that requires a lot of feet on the street.”

Defakto, founded in 2022 as Spirl, employs 32 people and closed a $13 million Series A funding round in April 2024. The company has been led since December 2024 by Oliveri, who previously spent nearly four years driving revenue for Oracle’s cloud monetization in North America. Oliveri also spent time as a sales executive at TopSpin Security, Lacoon Mobile Security and Silver Tail Systems (see: Astrix’s $45M Series B Targets Non-Human Identity Security).

From Terminating Access to Discovery and Governance

The company’s Series B round was led by Ross Fubini of XYZ Capital, who Oliveri praised as a tenacious and knowledgeable former operator with a deep understanding of Defakto’s market. The $30.75 million stemmed from internal projections of what would be required to expand product capabilities, support a growing customer base and continue the category education efforts for non-human identity, he said.

“We’ve always had the luxury of being in the position of raising money through unsolicited rounds,” Oliveri said. “It had nothing to do with macroeconomics. It was more about having the right partner at the right time.”

Dekafto’s initial focus was the final stage of the non-human identity security pipeline where risky or unauthorized identities are terminated or constrained, but with additional resources, the company is revisiting earlier stages of the life cycle such as discovery and governance. This includes improvements to visibility, integration, automation and scalability, with a focus on enterprise-grade capabilities, he said.

“We started off addressing the last mile, which is why we’re at that eradication layer.” Oliveri said. “So for us now, it’s going back and filling in some of the gaps around discovery and making sure that we have an opportunity where companies that are trying to tread lightly into the NHI space, that we address discovery and governance fully. We continue to evolve so we can address the full life cycle.”

Discovery must span everything from modern Kubernetes environments to legacy systems to not only identify where machine identities reside, but to understand their behavior, relationships and risks, he said. Customers increasingly demand governance capabilities that match the robustness of those available for human identity management, Oliveri said.

“You can’t have governance without discovery,” he said. “For us, it’s about fulfilling what organizations are wanting. You’re telling a machine it can do what it’s supposed to be doing, and having that comfort that the proper governance is in place. We’re not just Kubernetes-only. We’re casting a wide net, and it’s a journey.”

What Makes AI Agents Different Than Other Machine Identities

While AI agents and large language models are technically similar to other non-human entities, their usage patterns and governance implications are less defined, which makes it a moving target. Defakto is working closely with current enterprise customers to identify actual, in-production AI use cases that need governance and control rather than over-investing in speculative features based on hypotheticals.

“How do you fill out those rough edges? Where does it start and stop?” Oliveri said. “We’re working with customers and prospects because we want to make sure we get it right, and not just be another company that’s hand-wavy talking about AI. The opinions that matter are the ones that are investing and truly want to take this to that point of a partnership.”

While discussions are ongoing with major cloud providers, he said enterprises are increasingly multi-cloud, which shifts the conversation from exclusivity to interoperability. In terms of framework integrations, Oliveri said these partners are often incumbents in the identity space and are looking to complement their offerings with a modern NHI solution such as Defakto.

“You have to resist the temptation to just go partner and work with anyone,” Oliveri said. “They don’t think about the stresses and the requirements and the investments it’s going to take. And so for us, we’re being very selective.”

By 2027, Oliveri said Defakto aims to be the category-defining leader in non-human identity, with hundreds of enterprise customers and millions of machine identities under management. Another key metric is 100% net revenue retention, which Oliveri said is an indication that customers are not only sticking with the platform but expanding their usage.

“What’s important: 100% net revenue retention, showing customers expanding usage, getting category validation from analysts like Gartner and Forrester, and becoming the de facto – yes, pun intended – choice in the enterprise security stack,” Oliveri said.