Exaforce, a startup co-founded by the former leader of F5’s security product division, has successfully secured $125 million to enhance its capabilities in providing near-instantaneous responses to intricate cyber investigations. This investment reflects the growing demand for advanced technological solutions in cybersecurity, particularly as organizations grapple with mounting threats.

The recent Series B funding is set to enable the San Francisco-based company to elevate its methods of contextualizing and correlating incoming telemetry data even before users articulate their inquiries. Ankur Singla, the founder and CEO, elaborated on the innovation, which begins by leveraging a semantic security knowledge graph, followed by a sophisticated modeling of interactions among identities, APIs, applications, and systems across diverse enterprise environments.

Singla emphasized the critical importance of financial stability for companies seeking reliable partners. He noted, “Customers want companies that are well capitalized, because they’re making a big decision on who to partner with. This long-term journey with any particular vendor makes it imperative that they are well-funded.” Exaforce, which began its operations in 2023, has now amassed a total of $200 million in funding since its Series A round concluded in April 2025. The company currently employs 94 people and is led by Singla, who previously founded the application delivery platform Volterra, later sold to F5 for $500 million. Singla managed F5’s security products group until 2022, transitioning into an advisory role before establishing Exaforce.

Challenges in Traditional Security Operations

In today’s fast-paced cybersecurity landscape, organizations require systems capable of real-time autonomous operations while positioning humans in supervisory roles. Singla highlighted that for successful deployment of AI agents and automated security operation platforms, the focus must be on acquiring high-quality, contextualized data. He stated, “Poor data quality will inevitably lead to flawed decision-making by autonomous systems.” Emphasizing the urgency, he remarked, “You have to defend at machine speed, and humans need to just supervise what’s going on.” This transition signifies that humans can no longer be involved in many decisions that previously required their input.

Singla pointed out that traditional security operations fall short because the volume of streaming telemetry generated by enterprise security environments surpasses the capabilities of conventional large language models (LLMs). Instead of merely querying raw data retrospectively, Exaforce continuously processes incoming data in real-time. “We are able to reason on all the incoming data irrespective of volume and size, and we’re able to do it in real time,” Singla asserted, adding that this ability is groundbreaking and unparalleled within the industry.

As customer needs evolve, demand is increasingly shifting from traditional firewall and cloud solutions to more integrated approaches that encompass operational technology, IoT systems, and various enterprise applications such as Salesforce and Workday. Singla noted that the manufacturing sector, in particular, presents diverse data sources requiring new semantic and behavioral models. “Manufacturing companies have diverse infrastructure, including OT devices and IoT systems. This complexity demands a broader perspective on data sources and security measures,” he explained.

Exaforce’s Unique Position in the Market

In contrast to conventional Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) vendors and emerging AI-driven SOC startups, Exaforce distinguishes itself through its unparalleled real-time data reasoning capabilities. Singla explained that while traditional SIEM providers focus heavily on post-alert workflows, Exaforce continuously analyzes data prior to alert generation. “The biggest problem for all the agentic systems is the data. If you don’t have enough data, no matter how much processing power I give you, you will make bad decisions,” he warned.

Exaforce aims to offer CISOs and security professionals a flexible platform where they can dynamically create their own workflows, dashboards, and applications using natural language interactions. Singla described their vision: “The security professionals want to avoid rigid vendor-defined interfaces. They desire what I think of as a limitless canvas where they can shape their own data experience.” This visionary approach empowers users to define how they wish to consume information according to their specific needs.

Currently, Exaforce’s primary operational focus lies in expanding its sales, marketing, and partner ecosystem teams to ensure swift productivity. Singla believes that effectiveness in acquiring new customers and securing valuable enterprise accounts will serve as critical metrics for assessing the success of the Series B investment. “Agents depend on high-quality data,” he reiterated, “and without proper contextualization and correlation, the deployment of these systems can lead to significant challenges.” This insight serves as a guiding principle for organizations as they look to navigate their cybersecurity needs amidst a rapidly evolving threat landscape.