CISO Tribune

Vendor comparison · 2 companies

HiddenLayer vs Neo

HiddenLayer sells AI security that analyzes AI applications, models, and assets, identifies their risks, and protects them as teams build. Neo sells security for AI and agentic software across every endpoint, SaaS app, and cloud service. CISO Tribune files both under AI model and agent security. This page sets the two records side by side: what each sells, where it is based, who owns and funds it, the customers it names and its recent news, each fact numbered to its source.

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  • HiddenLayer
  • Neo
HiddenLayer vs Neo: Products, Customers and Funding Compared
HiddenLayerHiddenLayer sells AI security that analyzes AI applications, models, and assets, identifies their risks, and protects them as teams build.hiddenlayer.comNeoNeo sells security for AI and agentic software across every endpoint, SaaS app, and cloud service.neo.ai
What it sells
  • Model Scanning[1][4][6]Scans third-party and proprietary machine learning models to detect hidden risks.
  • Red Teaming[1][6][10]Runs continuous testing intended to identify threats early and validate AI defenses.
  • AI Guardrails[1][11]Applies policy-based controls intended to prevent misuse, data leakage and adversarial attacks on AI systems.
  • Agentic and MCP Protection[1][4][5][6]Monitors autonomous AI agents and MCP connections and is intended to guard against rogue behavior.
  • Neo Node[3][5][6]Enforces policy on the laptop, on macOS, Windows, and Linux. Decides each agent action with allow, ask, or block.
  • Neo Console[6]Starts from a customer's organization and its teams, taken from the identity provider.
  • Neoverse[1][3][5][6]The intelligence layer for AI apps and tools.
Categories
Headquarters
Austin, United States[2]Not stated on its pages
Founded
2022[2]Not stated on its pages
Ownership and funding
Privately held[3]Privately held[3]
Named customers
Not stated on its pagesNot stated on its pages
Recent news
  • August 12, 2026HiddenLayer announced the appointment of Mike Gesnaldo as Chief Revenue Officer.[14]
  • July 20, 2026Neo emerged from stealth with $100 million in funding from Andreessen Horowitz, Bessemer Venture Partners, Craft Ventures and Merlin Ventures.[7]
G2 and Gartner Peer Insights
  • G2: Not stated on its pages
  • Gartner Peer Insights: Not stated on its pages
  • G2: Not stated on its pages
  • Gartner Peer Insights: Not stated on its pages
Who it fits
HiddenLayer describes securing AI used for fraud detection, trading, compliance, and customer engagement. HiddenLayer offers protection of agentic, generative, and predictive AI systems for mission assurance. HiddenLayer describes deployment through APIs, gateways, SDKs, or lightweight on-device integrations.From its own pages, the company sells mainly to organisations that need to know which AI agents run on their fleet and what each one can reach. Neo describes examples from a healthcare SaaS company and a fintech. Neo Node deploys through an MDM that the customer already runs. Neo Console takes the organization and its teams from the customer's identity provider. Neo enforces policy on laptops running macOS, Windows, and Linux, and extends the same policy to SaaS apps and cloud deployments.
Last verified
November 2, 2026November 9, 2026

Where they overlap

  • AI model and agent security is the primary category of both HiddenLayer and Neo.
  • Both are privately held.

Where they differ, field by field

  • HiddenLayer is also filed under AI firewalls and guardrails. Neo is also filed under Workforce AI usage security, AI governance and Software supply chain security.
  • HiddenLayer lists Model Scanning, Red Teaming, AI Guardrails and Agentic and MCP Protection. Neo lists Neo Node, Neo Console and Neoverse.
  • HiddenLayer is headquartered in Austin, United States.
  • HiddenLayer was founded in 2022.

What it sells: Neo

What Neo Node does[3][5][6]
Neo Node deploys through the MDM a customer already runs, with no kernel module and no reboot. Neo Node reads the whole session rather than only the command. Inside Claude Code, Neo Node reads the model, MCP servers, skills and plugins that Claude Code loads.
What Neoverse does[1][3][5][6]
Neoverse checks every extension, package, skill, and MCP server before it runs. Neoverse rates an unsigned server loaded by an agent as Unsafe on first sight.

Questions about HiddenLayer and Neo

What do HiddenLayer and Neo sell?
HiddenLayer sells Model Scanning, Red Teaming, AI Guardrails and Agentic and MCP Protection. Neo sells Neo Node, Neo Console and Neoverse.
Are HiddenLayer and Neo in the same category?
Yes. AI model and agent security is the primary category of both on CISO Tribune.
Where are HiddenLayer and Neo headquartered?
HiddenLayer is headquartered in Austin, United States.
When were HiddenLayer and Neo founded?
HiddenLayer was founded in 2022.
Who owns HiddenLayer and Neo?
HiddenLayer is privately held. Neo is privately held.
Who are HiddenLayer and Neo sold to?
HiddenLayer describes securing AI used for fraud detection, trading, compliance, and customer engagement. From its own pages, the company sells mainly to organisations that need to know which AI agents run on their fleet and what each one can reach.
What have HiddenLayer and Neo announced recently?
August 12, 2026: HiddenLayer announced the appointment of Mike Gesnaldo as Chief Revenue Officer. July 20, 2026: Neo emerged from stealth with $100 million in funding from Andreessen Horowitz, Bessemer Venture Partners, Craft Ventures and Merlin Ventures.

About HiddenLayer

HiddenLayer sells AI security that analyzes AI applications, models, and assets, identifies their risks, and protects them as teams build. HiddenLayer builds an inventory of the AI applications, models, and assets in a customer environment. HiddenLayer offers a firewall that monitors, detects, and responds in real time to adversarial threats on agentic and generative AI applications. HiddenLayer continually identifies threats and validates defenses for agentic and generative AI applications.[1]

HiddenLayer says developers are embedding AI into tools and workflows faster than security teams can track. HiddenLayer says third-party models introduce unknown code and vulnerabilities. HiddenLayer says coding agents can read sensitive files, execute shell commands, install dependencies, or expose credentials. HiddenLayer says attackers can manipulate AI systems through prompts, retrieved content, tool output, or other untrusted inputs.[1][4][5]

HiddenLayer automatically builds a living inventory of AI across an environment, including shadow AI. HiddenLayer scans cloud accounts, repos, endpoints, and pipelines to detect every model and associated agent. HiddenLayer scans AWS, Azure, GCP, VMs, containers, and APIs for AI assets. HiddenLayer automatically associates AI assets with owners, business units, sensitivity, and risk levels. HiddenLayer aligns AI assets with NIST, OWASP, and ATLAS frameworks.[6][7]

HiddenLayer analyzes models for malware, vulnerabilities, backdoors, and unknown components before they reach production. HiddenLayer scans model files and URLs for malware, CVEs, backdoors, and integrity issues before deployment. HiddenLayer analyzes architectures, layers, weights, and artifacts for tampering or anomalies. HiddenLayer tests commercial models for safety and security before integration. HiddenLayer identifies where models come from, including origin and licensing.[4][6][7][8]

HiddenLayer continuously tests AI systems against evolving attacks and uncovers weaknesses early. HiddenLayer tests for jailbreaks, injection, role confusion, and harmful response patterns. HiddenLayer probes for extraction of PHI, PII, or proprietary data. HiddenLayer simulates unauthorized actions through agent tools and APIs.[6][9][10]

HiddenLayer detects and responds to AI attacks in production. HiddenLayer monitors prompts, outputs, memory, and agent actions in real time to detect and block prompt injection, data leakage, model theft, and unsafe tool use. HiddenLayer observes and reconstructs agent interactions across tools, data, and workflows in real time. HiddenLayer detects, blocks, or redacts unsafe actions and sensitive information according to policy and platform capabilities. HiddenLayer integrates runtime detections and enforcement events with existing SIEM, SOAR, and security operations workflows. HiddenLayer extends Runtime Security into AI coding agents through lightweight, on-device integration.[5][6][10]

HiddenLayer enforces boundaries around content, toxicity, bias, and regulatory restrictions. HiddenLayer detects and prevents PII, PHI, and proprietary data exposure in generated content. HiddenLayer enforces safe, compliant, and policy aligned AI behavior across applications, models, and business units. HiddenLayer combines safety guardrails with real time threat detection and prompt injection blocking. HiddenLayer protects autonomous agents and MCP based systems from prompt injection, unsafe tool use, and harmful autonomous actions.[1][6][11]

HiddenLayer says its platform deploys across any architecture without exposing intellectual property, weights, prompts, or customer data. HiddenLayer offers deployment through APIs, gateways, SDKs, or lightweight on-device integrations. HiddenLayer offers services modeled after active adversarial campaigns targeting enterprise AI applications. HiddenLayer services evaluate every layer from AI asset discovery to data and model supply chains to runtime environments. HiddenLayer services provide detailed remediation playbooks tailored to models, infrastructure, and compliance needs. HiddenLayer services work in concert with the HiddenLayer AI Security Platform for ongoing protection. HiddenLayer services align with emerging AI governance standards, including NIST AI RMF and EU AI Act requirements.[4][6][12]

HiddenLayer describes securing AI used for fraud detection, trading, compliance, and customer engagement. HiddenLayer describes establishing governance controls aligned with FFIEC and OCC frameworks. HiddenLayer detects malware, tampered artifacts, and backdoored weights in pretrained models and libraries. HiddenLayer protects agentic, generative, and predictive AI systems for mission assurance.[1][4][6][10][13]

HiddenLayer on the record

Sources

HiddenLayer full record

  1. [1]HiddenLayer | Total AI SecurityHiddenLayer · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier A
  2. [2]Hiddenlayer launches the first security solution to protect ai powered products 301587864HiddenLayer via PR Newswire · prnewswire.com · published July 19, 2022 · Tier A
  3. [3]Hiddenlayer 100m series b ai securityHiddenLayer · hiddenlayer.com · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier A
  4. [4]Application Developers | HiddenLayerHiddenLayer · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  5. [5]AI Runtime Security | HiddenLayerHiddenLayer · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  6. [6]Platform | HiddenLayerHiddenLayer · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  7. [7]AI Discovery | HiddenLayerHiddenLayer · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  8. [8]AI Supply Chain Security | HiddenLayerHiddenLayer · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  9. [9]AI Attack Simulation | HiddenLayerHiddenLayer · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  10. [10]CISO | HiddenLayerHiddenLayer · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  11. [11]AI Guardrails | HiddenLayerHiddenLayer · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  12. [12]Services | HiddenLayerHiddenLayer · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  13. [13]Financial Services | HiddenLayerHiddenLayer · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  14. [14]HiddenLayer Appoints Mike Gesnaldo as Chief Revenue OfficerHiddenLayer · published August 12, 2026 · Tier A

Neo full record

  1. [1]Neo launches with 100m to secure ai software across the enterpriseGlobeNewswire · globenewswire.com · published July 20, 2026 · Tier A
  2. [2]neo.aiNeo · neo.ai · undated page, accessed November 9, 2026 · Tier A
  3. [3]Neo | Secure AI. From Endpoint to EverywhereNeo · undated page, accessed November 11, 2026 · Tier A
  4. [4]Platform | NeoNeo · undated page, accessed November 11, 2026 · Tier A
  5. [5]Why Neo | AI Control Starts at the EndpointNeo · undated page, accessed November 11, 2026 · Tier A
  6. [6]How It Works | NeoNeo · undated page, accessed November 11, 2026 · Tier A
  7. [7]Neo Launches With $100M for AI Software SecurityNeo · published July 20, 2026 · Tier A

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