The archive · Developer & Business Tools · Product decision · 2022–2026
Aikido Security bets devs, not CISOs, buy; $60M Series B, fastest EU security unicorn
Ghent startup Aikido Security grew a "no BS" developer-first freemium tool to a $1B valuation in three years; 100,000+ teams, 5x revenue growth.
Aikido Security
What the business is
Aikido Security is a Ghent, Belgium cybersecurity startup selling one unified, developer-first platform that finds and fixes vulnerabilities across code, open-source supply chain, cloud and runtime.
Starting capital：$5M seed (Nov 2023), $17M Series A led by Singular (May 2024), $60M Series B at a $1B valuation led by DST Global (Jan 2026); roughly $87.5M raised in disclosed rounds.
How it started
Willem Delbare, previously at Teamleader and Officient, founded Aikido in Ghent in 2022 with co-founders Roeland Delrue and Felix Garriau, tired of security tools that 'looked like the inside of an F-16 cockpit' and made developers feel dumb. The platform came out of beta in April 2023 and raised a $5M seed round in late 2023.
What happened
In May 2024 Aikido raised a $17M Series A led by Singular with Notion Capital and Connect Ventures, reporting 3,000 small-to-midsize customers. Over the next 20 months it scaled to 100,000+ teams including Deel, SoundCloud, Niantic and Revolut, on 5x revenue growth and nearly 3x customer growth, with a 180-person team (21+ former founders) deploying 60+ times a day, and launched Aikido Attack, an AI penetration-testing product.
How it ended up
On 2026-01-13 Aikido announced a $60M Series B at a $1B valuation, led by Tom Stafford at DST Global with PSG Equity, Singular, Notion Capital and others. TechCrunch called it one of five fresh European unicorns of January 2026; Aikido says it is the fastest European cybersecurity company ever to reach unicorn status.
Background
Aikido Security was founded in Ghent, Belgium in 2022 by Willem Delbare (previously Teamleader, Officient) with co-founders Roeland Delrue and Felix Garriau. Their bet: the developer using a security tool should also be the one buying it. Delbare argued that in legacy security software the CISO buys and 'some poor developer' is the user, and that tools 'looked like the inside of an F-16 cockpit' — so Aikido would be the 'no BS' platform built for the people who actually ship software.
The wedge was a freemium, flat-priced platform that unified code, open-source supply chain, cloud and runtime security in one place, aggressively triaged alerts so developers were only bothered when something real was wrong, and open-sourced new products. The platform left beta in April 2023, raised a $5M seed round in late 2023, and by May 2024 — after a $17M Series A led by Singular with Notion Capital and Connect Ventures — counted 3,000 small-to-midsize customers and $22.5M in total funding.
Over the following 20 months Aikido scaled to 100,000+ teams including Deel, SoundCloud, Niantic and Revolut, grew revenue 5x and more than tripled its customer base in a year, and built a 180-person team with 21+ former founders deploying 60+ times a day. In January 2026 it announced a $60M Series B at a $1B valuation, led by Tom Stafford at DST Global with PSG Equity, Singular, Notion Capital and others. TechCrunch listed it among Europe's five new unicorns of January 2026, and Aikido called itself the fastest European cybersecurity company ever to reach unicorn status.
What has to be true
- Developers felt the pain of noisy, CISO-oriented legacy tools, so a tool designed for them had natural bottom-up pull.
- Freemium, flat pricing and open-sourced products made adoption self-serve, cheap and fast — no security sales cycle needed.
- One platform for code, cloud, supply chain and runtime answered a single question — 'are we actually at risk?' — where incumbents sold five disconnected point tools.
- Aggressive triage reduced alert noise, exactly what developers vote for with their time and adoption.
- Deliberately rejecting the US/Israeli 'build one feature, get acquired' playbook kept Aikido on a platform trajectory rather than an exit path.
What can be applied
Counterposition on the user, not the buyer: make developers the buyers and cut alert noise — a bottom-up wedge incumbents cannot copy without breaking their sales model.
Aftermath
As of 2026-01-31, Aikido was scaling on the new capital: 100,000+ teams globally, a 180-person team, 5x revenue growth over the prior year, and a new AI penetration-testing product (Aikido Attack). The company framed the round as the start of 'self-securing software' — continuous, autonomous testing built into every release — and said it would keep growing via inbound alone.
Sources
- Meet the new European unicorns of 2026
- Aikido Security Raises $60M at a $1B valuation
- Belgium's Aikido lands $17M Series A for its 'no BS' security platform aimed at developers
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