Ent

Ent provides an intent-aware workspace security platform designed to preemptively address threats by interpreting the intent behind user and AI agent actions before they escalate into security incidents. The San Francisco-based company emerged from stealth on June 16, 2026, with a notable $100 million seed funding round. The financing was led by Decibel, with significant participation from Sequoia, Crosspoint Capital Partners, Craft Ventures, Shield Capital, Felicis, and the U.S. intelligence community's investment arm, In-Q-Tel. The company was founded by seasoned cybersecurity veterans Elias Manousos (CEO) and Brandon Dixon (CTO). Their journey includes the creation of RiskIQ, which was acquired by Microsoft in 2021 for over $500 million. Following the acquisition, both founders played key roles at Microsoft, contributing to the launch of the Microsoft Security Copilot. This background provided them with insights into the limitations of existing security paradigms, which primarily react to threats after they have occurred. They identified a critical gap in the market for a solution that could address risks that often mimic legitimate work activities, especially with the rise of autonomous AI agents. Ent's platform operates as a lightweight agent on endpoint devices (Windows, macOS, and Linux) and as a browser extension, bringing real-time AI reasoning directly to the workspace. It moves beyond traditional Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) by analyzing the behavioral patterns of both humans and AI agents at the moment of operation. The technology evaluates intent against custom corporate policies and can trigger automated interventions before a risky action is completed, effectively shifting from reactive detection to proactive prevention. This allows it to detect insider risks, govern AI usage, prevent data loss, and stop threats that other systems might miss. Hosted within the customer's cloud to ensure data sovereignty, the platform integrates with and extends the capabilities of existing security stacks like EDR, SIEM, SOAR, and IAM solutions. The company targets enterprise clients and is already deployed with Global 2000 customers in sectors such as hospitality, financial services, and defense. The business model is centered on providing this advanced security layer to help organizations manage risks associated with a modern workforce that includes both human and non-human (AI) agents. The substantial seed funding is being used to expand engineering and go-to-market operations, and to further develop its 'multimodal endpoint intelligence' technology. Keywords: intent-aware security, workspace security, endpoint prevention, real-time threat intervention, AI agent security, insider risk detection, data loss prevention, AI governance, cybersecurity AI, EDR extension, proactive security, behavioral analysis, human and agent risk, Elias Manousos, Brandon Dixon, RiskIQ, Microsoft Security Copilot, Decibel, Sequoia, Crosspoint Capital, In-Q-Tel, enterprise security, cloud security, endpoint agent