What are DevSecOps startups?

While DevOps startups focus on merging development and operations to enable faster software delivery through automation and continuous integration/delivery, DevSecOps startups are responsible for adding a security layer to this pipeline. By this, we mean security testing, vulnerability scanning, and compliance checks that are automated and built into every stage of development, from code writing to deployment, following a “shift left” approach where security issues are caught and addressed early.

Top DevSecOps startups

Complete list of the most DevSecOps startups that are worth knowing:

Traceable

Founded in 2018, Traceable is a company that provides security tools for cloud-based applications and APIs. Their service uses advanced tracing techniques to track all activity across application code, interfaces, and user transactions.

The Traceable platform installs sensors that monitor code changes and API calls in real-time. This allows teams to visualize how modifications impact endpoints, performance, and security. Granular insights expose hidden risks and vulnerabilities before they can be exploited.

Synack

Founded in 2013, Synack is a cybersecurity testing platform that helps companies find and fix weaknesses in their networks, apps, and systems. They utilize crowdsourced security experts and smart AI to continuously inspect digital assets for risks. Synack has built a global community of highly qualified freelance security researchers. These ethical hackers get rewarded for finding bugs and flaws using approved scans. All testing is done safely through Synack’s private platforms.

The network produces comprehensive security reports that prioritize the most urgent threats for clients. Synack also verifies when bugs are patched to meet compliance requirements. Their mix of human talent and advanced tech-like machine learning allows more accurate discoveries across complex IT environments.

Contrast Security

Founded in 2014, Contrast Security offers an all-in-one application security platform that spans both the software development life cycle and runtime production environments. Their solution combines interactive application security testing (IAST) and runtime application self-protection (RASP) capabilities.

The Contrast platform instruments application code to identify vulnerabilities and detect attacks. Sensors embedded in the application enable analysis across the entire pipeline – during coding, testing, and even after deployment to production.

Snyk

Founded in 2015, Snyk is a cloud service that helps developers securely build applications and fix vulnerabilities in code. Their platform integrates directly into the popular development tools and systems that programmers use every day. For example, Snyk easily embeds into GitHub to check code for risks each time developers commit changes. Recommendations are provided to address any found issues or weaknesses. These fixes can be automatically merged into the main codebase to strengthen it.

The service also scans container images and Kubernetes configurations in the deployment pipeline before applications reach production. This prevents security gaps in containerized apps and infrastructure.

Veracode

Founded in 2006, Veracode is a cybersecurity company that makes software testing tools to help organizations find and fix security flaws in their applications. Their scanning technology uses artificial intelligence to automatically detect risks that hackers could exploit to breach systems and data.

The Veracode platform allows developers to scan code as they build apps to identify issues early on. It also enables companies to routinely check production applications for new threats. Detailed reports make it easy to prioritize the most pressing vulnerabilities so they can be remediated quickly.

Aembit

Founded in 2021, Aembit offers an identity management platform aimed at DevOps teams and security engineers who need to control access between different cloud services and applications. As more workloads move to the cloud, there is often a mix of legacy systems and modern microservices that need to share data. Aembit provides the connective layer to enable secure authentication and permissions across these federated systems.

The platform handles user provisioning, access privileges, and role management to streamline compliance. Granular policies can be implemented to restrict data sharing only to authorized entities. Detailed audit logs track all inter-system user activities for security monitoring.

Chainguard

Founded in 2021, Chainguard aims to address the growing concerns around software supply chain security. The company was created by security experts who recognized the need for better tools and practices in an era where software vulnerabilities can have serious consequences.

Their core offering includes “distroless” container images, which are stripped down to only the essential components needed to run an application. This minimalist approach significantly reduces the potential attack surface by eliminating unnecessary tools and packages that could contain vulnerabilities.

Dazz

Founded in 2021, the Dazz platform simplifies complex security challenges by consolidating disparate tools. This unified approach accelerates vulnerability identification and remediation, reducing risks and enhancing overall security posture.

Dazz’s technology uses automation and intelligent analysis to speed up the remediation process. It can automatically prioritize security issues based on their severity and potential impact, helping teams focus on the most critical problems first. The platform also provides clear guidance on how to fix identified issues, making it easier for developers to implement solutions.

Ox Security

Founded in 2021, Ox Security aims to address the growing concerns around software supply chain attacks. These attacks have become more frequent and sophisticated, targeting not just the final software product but also the tools and processes used to create it.

The company’s platform provides end-to-end visibility across the entire software development lifecycle. This means tracking everything from the initial code writing to deployment in the cloud, and back through any code changes. Their system continuously monitors for security risks and vulnerabilities at every stage.

Abbey Labs

Founded in 2022, Abbey Labs addresses a critical challenge in modern tech companies: managing who has access to what data and when. As organizations grow, keeping track of employee access rights to various systems and databases becomes increasingly complex and risky.

Abbey Labs’ solution is particularly valuable for engineering teams that deal with sensitive customer data or critical infrastructure. Their platform provides detailed audit trails, making it easier for companies to comply with various data protection regulations and security standards.

Firezone

Founded in 2022, Firezone solves common frustrations with traditional VPN solutions. While established VPNs can be slow, complex to set up, and difficult to maintain, Firezone focuses on providing a streamlined, high-performance experience. The core of Firezone’s advantage lies in its use of WireGuard, a modern VPN protocol that’s significantly faster and more efficient than older technologies. WireGuard’s lightweight code base means better speeds and lower server resource usage, resulting in a smoother experience for users.

Being open-source brings additional benefits to Firezone’s solution. Organizations can inspect the code for security, make customizations to fit their needs, and benefit from community contributions. This transparency and flexibility set it apart from proprietary VPN solutions.

Speedscale

Founded in 2020, Speedscale’s innovative approach uses existing traffic patterns to create realistic test scenarios. Instead of writing complex test scripts manually, developers can capture real user interactions with their applications and replay them at scale. This ensures that tests reflect genuine user behavior rather than hypothetical situations.

Speedscale’s integration with Kubernetes makes it particularly valuable for cloud-native applications. The platform can automatically generate test cases and mock services based on observed traffic patterns, saving developers countless hours of manual work. This automation helps catch potential issues before they impact real users.

Cloudanix

Founded in 2019,  Cloudanix offers comprehensive security monitoring and management tools specifically designed for multi-cloud setups. It can simultaneously track security configurations, compliance requirements, and potential vulnerabilities across different cloud providers like Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Microsoft Azure, and Amazon Web Services (AWS).

One of Cloudanix’s key strengths is its ability to standardize security practices across different environments. Whether teams are working on development, testing, or production accounts, the platform ensures consistent security policies and compliance standards are maintained.

Myrror

Founded in 2022, Myrror helps organizations identify and address security threats before they can be exploited. The company’s technology uses advanced scanning and analysis techniques to examine code throughout the development process. 

Unlike traditional security tools that might flag every potential issue, Myrror’s intelligent system prioritizes vulnerabilities based on their actual risk level and exploitability. This helps security teams avoid “alert fatigue” and focus their efforts where they’re most needed.

Darkhive

Founded in 2022, Darkhive specializes in developing accessible situational awareness systems for US-allied military and public safety personnel.  Their systems are designed to be user-friendly while providing crucial real-time information to those who need it most. The company’s technology combines various data sources, including sensors, cameras, and mapping systems, to create comprehensive situational awareness tools. 

These tools help users understand what’s happening around them, identify potential threats, and make better-informed decisions in critical situations. Darkhive’s systems are particularly valuable in emergency response scenarios, where quick access to accurate information can save lives. Their technology can be used in various situations, from natural disaster response to law enforcement operations, providing essential insights to those on the ground.

appCD

Founded in 2023, appCD is a technology company that specializes in generating Infrastructure from Code (IfC) based on application code. appCD’s Infrastructure from Code (IfC) approach differs from traditional Infrastructure as Code (IaC) methods. While IaC requires developers to manually write infrastructure specifications, appCD’s system can automatically generate these specifications by understanding the application’s needs and requirements.

Their platform can detect various application components, such as databases, caching systems, and networking requirements, and automatically create the necessary infrastructure configurations. This not only saves time but also helps prevent human errors and ensures optimal resource allocation.

Netmaker

Founded in 2021, Netmaker is open-source software that makes it easy for organizations to connect distributed IT infrastructure and services. It builds secure virtual networks using WireGuard, which is a new type of protocol that establishes connections efficiently.

Netmaker creates an overlay network that instantly connects things like cloud servers, company branches, and Kubernetes clusters. This seamless networking helps teams treat separate environments as one unified system. Setting up cross-environment connections used to require cobbling complex VPNs, VLANs etc. Netmaker vastly simplifies this with modern architecture.

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What are explainable AI (XAI) startups?

Think of explainable AI (XAI) startups as companies that create “AI translators”.  They translate complex AI decisions into language and explanations that regular people can understand and trust. Imagine you’re using a navigation app like Google Maps. You put your destination, and it gives you a route. That’s easy to understand because it shows you the road and explains why it chose that route, it has either less traffic or it’s shorter.

Now, what if the app just told you to turn right or turn left without showing you the map or explaining why? Not cool right? Well, that’s similar to how many AI systems work today, they make decisions but don’t explain why or how they reached those conclusions. This is where XAI startups enter the picture. They aim to create tools that make AI systems more like that navigation app with a clear map, and not just a mysterious voice telling you where to go.

Top explainable AI (XAI) startups

Complete list of the most explainable AI (XAI) startups that are worth knowing:

Stardog

Founded in 2006, Stardog is a software company that has developed Voicebox, an AI-powered data assistant for businesses. Voicebox lets employees ask questions about company data and get clear, explainable answers quickly.

Accessing insights locked away in enterprise databases often requires coding skills or waiting on data analysts. Voicebox simplifies this by letting anyone query data stores through natural conversation. Users can ask business questions like “What were our top selling products last quarter?” and Voicebox serves up the answer along with relevant charts or tables.

Anthropic

Founded in 2021, Anthropic is a startup working on safe artificial intelligence (AI) systems that are trustworthy and helpful. They bring together experts in machine learning, physics, ethics, and product design to create AI that works reliably for real-world uses. Many existing AI tools have flaws that lead to biased results or cause other unintended harm. Anthropic develops methods to improve AI safety so these systems remain under human control. Their teams rigorously test for risks during training to prevent errors down the line.

Anthropic’s first product is Claude – a conversational assistant focused on being truthful, harmless, and honest even when faced with tricky questions. Most chatbots try to make up answers even when wrong. Claude admits what it does not know to establish clear trust with users.

Reality Defender

Founded in 2021, Reality Defender offers a platform that detects deepfake videos, images, and audio to stop fraud. Deepfakes use AI to make fake content that looks and sounds real. Many companies face issues with false user profiles or altered documents. Reality Defender lets groups upload media to scan for deepfake manipulation. Their technology gives each file a risk score to show the likelihood it’s fake.

Users can set up email alerts for any high-risk content found. The platform generates PDF reports with details on what factors flag a file as an AI-created fake. Reality Defender also allows reviewing visual forensics online to inspect indicators within images and video. By spotting doctored files and synthetic impersonations early, Reality Defender aims to help corporations, government groups, and social platforms control malicious misinformation and fakes. Their API allows partners to check user-generated content at scale.

Hacarus

Founded in 2014, originally founded for healthcare applications, Hacarus now aims to make nutritious eating easier through personalized recommendations. The Hacarus app lets users log meals and rate preferences. Advanced AI takes your diet data and learns your taste and nutrition needs. It creates a customized food plan just for you to support wellness goals like losing weight or managing conditions like diabetes.

Features include grocery lists aligned to your diet specs, smart meal reminders, a restaurant finder, recipes tailored to restrictions and tastes, and progress dashboards. Hacarus guides users step-by-step towards balanced, sustainable habits.

Genie AI

Founded in 2017, Genie AI is like having an entire law firm draft personalized documents on demand 24/7 for a fraction of the cost and time. Lawyers built the system so all paperwork adheres precisely to relevant compliance laws. Business users get fast, affordable access to professionally legit agreements unique to their needs.

Generating legal paperwork used to mean sifting through dense templates, making revisions with complex legal terminology, and double-checking compatibility across geographies. Genie AI streamlines all that. Users simply describe what they need – say a vendor services contract or employment offer letter – and Genie AI handles the rest.

Charles River Analytics

Founded in 1983, Charles River Analytics has aimed to push intelligent systems to their useful limits in finance, healthcare, aerospace and other industries. Their platforms digest gigantic volumes of data to detect patterns and make predictions no unaided human could. But their engineers ensure transparency, control, and human oversight so trust and ethics match capabilities.

With computation power and datasets growing rapidly, Charles River Analytics blends evolved AI, flexible interfaces, and user experience expertise. This delivers advanced systems their clients rely on for optimal, informed decisions. The future-focused company creatively marshals hybrid human-computer systems to solve complex problems and expand possibilities.

Convoy

Founded in 2005, Convoy is a technology platform that matches shippers who need items transported with nearby trucking companies that have capacity. This makes booking freight trucks fast and simple.

In the past, shippers would have to call or email multiple trucking firms to coordinate deliveries. Convoy streamlines this by using real-time tracking of truck locations and available capacity. Shippers can instantly compare rates and book a qualified trucker through the Convoy app or website.

Kapa.ai

Founded in 2023, kapa.ai is a company that creates AI-powered chatbots to provide technical support. Their bots are designed specifically for software teams and developer tools. The Kapa platform hooks into over 40 knowledge bases, documentation portals, and databases full of codes and APIs.

This wealth of data trains the natural language capabilities of kapa bots. The bots can then have personalized conversations with developers about troubleshooting, finding code examples, or navigating technical documentation for various programming languages and frameworks.

Fiddler

Founded in 2018, Fiddler is a startup that offers an Explainable AI platform to help companies create more transparent and trustworthy AI systems. The founders started Fiddler because they saw a need for AI technology that business leaders and regulators could actually understand.

Typical AI models are complex black boxes that provide predictions and recommendations without context behind them. In contrast, Fiddler’s platform requires AI systems to explain their reasoning in human terms. Their tools annotate machine learning processes to make capabilities and limitations clear.

Databricks

Founded in 2013, Databricks provides a software platform that helps companies analyze all their data to solve challenging problems. As the most popular unified data analytics service, Databricks aims to enable data-driven decision-making across organizations.

The Databricks platform combines simplified data pipelines with analytics, machine learning, and AI tools that allow teams to process data of any type from any source. This unified system makes data-intensive tasks accessible for more business units so expertise is no longer a barrier to gaining data insights.

Z Advanced Computing

Founded in 2013, ZAC (Z Advanced Computing) has developed an artificial intelligence platform for image recognition and visual search that aims to replicate the way humans see and learn. Their technology, built on Explainable AI, can identify and classify objects in 3D images using very few image samples for training.

The ZAC platform takes an approach called modular deep learning that mirrors how people focus on the visual details that matter. By understanding patterns like shapes, textures, and more, the system develops reusable knowledge. ZAC’s image recognition keeps improving cumulatively as new learning builds on itself over time.

ArthurAI

Founded in 2018, ArthurAI has developed a platform for closely monitoring AI models to ensure they keep working properly over time. As companies deploy more machine learning systems, it’s crucial to catch any decreases in performance quickly.

The Arthur service keeps a close eye on all AI models to make sure accuracy and effectiveness don’t degrade. It establishes a baseline of normal functioning when the model is first implemented. From there, Arthur’s monitoring tools detect even small dips in metrics like precision, recall and bias.

Monolith AI

Founded in 2016, Monolith AI is an engineering software company that uses machine learning and massive computing power to assist human engineers. Their technology combines artificial intelligence (AI), data visualization tools, and high-performance computers to help products get built faster.

The Monolith platform streamlines complex engineering by using AI to automate repeatable steps. It predicts outcomes of analyses and runs intensive simulations rapidly – things that physical testing would take far longer to do. Engineers obtain more data and insights more efficiently to accelerate the development process.

Abridge

Founded in 2018, Abridge is a shipping logistics company that makes international freight transport to/from Asia easier for importers and exporters. They digitize the entire process from cargo booking to delivery through their online platform. Exporters can book cargo space and submit documentation completely online. Abridge then optimizes container packing to save money. They handle all the export/import compliance paperwork as well.

The Abridge dashboard provides real-time shipment visibility and status notifications. There are also digital communication channels connecting cargo owners to all supply chain parties. This simplifies getting answers or resolving issues.

FAIRLY

Founded in 2015, FAIRLY is a company that helps other businesses create fair and ethical artificial intelligence (AI) systems. As AI gets used more in products and services, FAIRLY wants to make sure it works equally well for everyone. FAIRLY works with teams building AI algorithms. They scan algorithms to check that AI models don’t unintentionally discriminate against groups like races, genders, or ages. Their tools analyze if AI systems make biased decisions. Then they give guidance on fixing issues.

Making sure AI is fair and doesn’t create biased outcomes is important for companies’ reputations. It also keeps customers, employees and business partners protected as AI gets integrated more. FAIRLY enables organizations to build AI responsibly while still advancing their goals.

DarwinAI

Founded in 2017, DarwinAI is an AI company that builds tools to help understand machine learning systems better. Their “generative synthesis” technology lets developers interpret and explain their AI models.

The DarwinAI toolkit diagnoses issues inside deep learning networks. This allows debugging models, enhancing their design, and assessing regulatory requirements. As AI gets incorporated into real-world software, explainability becomes crucial.

Imandra

Founded in 2014, Imandra is a technology company that offers automated reasoning solutions to help test and monitor algorithms. Their platform provides “Reasoning as a Service” to validate the logic and safety of complex software like those used in banking, robotics, self-driving vehicles, and AI modeling.

Imandra’s system works like a mathematician double-checking equations. It analyzes the code logic behind critical algorithms to check for hidden flaws, gaps or inconsistencies that lead to errors and failure over time. This governance protects systems from malfunctioning in risky ways.

Kubit AI

Kubit AI is a software company that helps online businesses understand how customers use their apps and websites. The Kubit platform analyzes large volumes of user data to uncover patterns. Their technology aims to quickly identify issues and opportunities so product teams can improve.

The Kubit analytics engine tracks detailed customer interactions within eCommerce sites and mobile apps. This allows them to detect usage changes over time to find problems impacting conversions or engagement. Instead of just reporting metrics trends, Kubit’s algorithms figure out the root causes behind rises and dips.

Craft AI

Founded in 2015, Craft AI is an artificial intelligence company that created ready-to-use AI tools for businesses to add to their existing products and systems. Their plug-and-play APIs make it easy for product developers and ops teams to integrate smart automation without data science skills.

The Craft AI libraries run right out of the box to track data patterns. They monitor things like user engagement, operational performance, device usage, and more to provide helpful predictions. The AI identifies trends and abnormal activity so teams can proactively adjust.

Fiddler Labs

Founded in 2018, Fiddler Labs is an AI startup focused on making artificial intelligence more understandable and reliable. They have an AI engine that explains how machine learning models make decisions. This helps data scientists, product teams, and businesses monitor their AI to prevent errors.

When AI behaves like a black box, it becomes untrustworthy. Fiddler opens up that black box. Their platform translates complex AI calculations into simplified reports. By revealing the reasoning behind AI outputs, they enable continuous improvement.

Conclusion

These explainable AI (XAI) startups are breaking new ground to make artificial intelligence more transparent and trustworthy. Through innovative solutions, user-friendly platforms, and transformative technologies, by unraveling the complex decision-making processes of AI models, these companies are empowering both individuals and organizations to make informed decisions, establish trust, and proactively address potential risks.