The startup Northstar Security, which develops artificial intelligence agents for cybersecurity teams, is emerging from stealth with $7 million in seed funding. The round is led by Wing Venture Capital, alongside MVP, Outliers, and several cybersecurity specialists, namely Gerhard Eschelbeck, Renaud Deraison, and Justin Somaini.
- Northstar Security emerges from stealth with $7 million in seed funding to detect toxic risk combinations.
- The platform builds a real-time security context graph from the tools companies already use.
- It flags dangerous combinations that seem harmless alone, and its AI agents can start remediation.
- CEO Amer Deeba co-founded Normalyze and previously held a senior role at Qualys.
A context graph updated in real time
The platform collects data from the security and IT tools already in place within companies. This information is used to build what the company calls a “Security Context Graph.” Updated in real time, it shows how identities, assets, applications, vulnerabilities, and business systems are interconnected.
The goal of Northstar is to spot what the company calls “toxic combinations.” A vulnerability, an unmanaged device, or an account with excessive privileges may seem under control in isolation, but their combination can expose critical systems.
The source gives the example of a laptop lacking endpoint protection, whose owner is a privileged user who can access a critical payroll system. The platform could flag this case. Analysts can then examine this type of result by asking questions in plain language. Northstar’s agents can then initiate remediations, such as installing endpoint protection, notifying the user, or limiting their access. People can oversee these actions where appropriate.
Clients can also grant external AI agents access to the graph via the Model Context Protocol (MCP), a protocol that allows these agents to connect to tools and data to build their own security processes. Northstar says it connects to more than 70 enterprise products dedicated to security and IT, including Okta, GitHub, Workday, Microsoft Defender and Entra, AWS, and Google Cloud.
“Security teams are drowning in data but starved for context,” said Amer Deeba, CEO and co-founder of Northstar.
A background already linked to cybersecurity
Amer Deeba co-founded Normalyze, a company later acquired by Proofpoint. He previously held a senior executive role at Qualys. His co-founder, Ed Rowe, is CTO of Northstar. He held the same role at Farmers Business Network and led engineering as senior vice president at AppDynamics.
The startup plans to use the funds to develop its platform, recruit, and strengthen its commercial deployment.
