Hadrian raises USD $40 million to expand cybersecurity

Hadrian has raised USD $40 million in a funding round co-led by Forgepoint Capital International and SmartFin, bringing the cybersecurity company's total funding to USD $65 million.

The new capital will support expansion across EMEA and the US, while increasing investment in engineering and research.

Hadrian sells an offensive cybersecurity platform designed to help organisations identify, test and prioritise external security risks. It combines continuous exposure management with automated penetration testing to show which vulnerabilities are exploitable, rather than simply generating large volumes of alerts.

The funding comes as companies face a more automated threat environment. Hadrian pointed to recent disclosures from AI companies and industry data suggesting that many organisations still rely on manual penetration testing and struggle to determine which exposures need urgent action.

According to the company, 87% of organisations still run manual pentests, while more than 70% of security teams find it difficult to decide which exposures are exploitable. It added that only 0.47% of findings from vulnerability scanners proved genuinely exploitable, meaning most alerts required no action.

Market pressure

Hadrian said its platform maps an organisation's external digital footprint and validates risks using AI agents. Its Atlas product focuses on identifying and validating exposures across the external attack surface, while Nova is used for on-demand penetration testing.

The company said customers have recorded 10 times greater visibility into critical exposures, 80% faster time to resolution and a fivefold return on investment compared with manual penetration testing. Customers named by the company include McKesson, NBC Universal, Francisco Partners, TotalEnergies, Amadeus, Leroy Merlin and Damen Shipyards.

Hadrian was founded by Rogier Fischer, Olivier Beg and Maurice Clin. Fischer and Beg previously worked as ethical hackers before becoming entrepreneurs.

"Everyone can see that AI is changing the threat landscape. It might also hold the answer, but most people are focused on automating the wrong bits. We have been working with LLMs since before they went mainstream, and we know that AI can work much faster than any human offensive security team. So we built a platform that emulates hackers' attack paths, helping our customers understand their key risks and prioritise their security resources appropriately," said Rogier Fischer, Chief Executive Officer of Hadrian.

The investor group also included existing backers HV Capital, Motive Partners, Picus Capital and Oetker Ventures.

Damien Henault outlined Forgepoint Capital International's investment case.

"There are too many vulnerabilities and too much noise for teams to manage, so they need tools that can help them see clearly and think like AI-armed hackers. Hadrian's AI-native, always-on solution delivers both depth and breadth, helping customers focus on genuine issues and risks. The companies using its platform are testament to both its innovative approach and the strength of its team, which made it a natural choice for us to back," said Damien Henault, Managing Director and Partner at Forgepoint Capital International.

SmartFin cited customer traction and contract growth as part of its rationale for backing the company.

"Rogier and his team have built an agentic hacking platform that truly stands apart in the offensive cybersecurity space. Hadrian's growing enterprise contract values, global customer base and exceptional enterprise retention rates demonstrate both the strength of its product and the team's ability to execute and win against the largest cybersecurity incumbents. This funding comes at a pivotal moment, accelerating Hadrian's next phase of growth as we support its ambition to become a global cybersecurity leader and build a nine-figure revenue business," said Saumitra Dubey, Partner at SmartFin.

Users of the platform said it has changed how they monitor external risks.

"Leroy Merlin runs large omnichannel operations, and every new solution and digital integration adds to what we have to protect. Hadrian helps us find exposed assets when they run out of our control and test them the way an attacker would. That gave our team clear priorities. We're glad to see Hadrian raise this round and keep building," said Alessio Setaro, Digital Solutions Leader at Leroy Merlin.

"Hadrian has changed the way we look at our external attack surface. Instead of relying on periodic assessments and a known inventory, we now have continuous visibility into what an attacker can actually see and potentially exploit. For a global organisation like Damen, that ability to discover unknown exposures and focus our teams on the risks that really matter is where Hadrian delivers its value," said Hans Quivooij, Chief Information Security Officer at Damen Shipyards.