Top 10 US Cybersecurity Startups to Watch

Cybersecurity is no longer just a technical concern, it has become a core business priority. From small businesses to large enterprises, every organization is now a target for attackers. With cybercrime projected to cause damages worth $10.5 trillion by 2026, the urgency for new-age security solutions has never been greater. Cybersecurity startups in the US are at the forefront of this fight, bringing fresh innovation, AI-powered tools, and advanced frameworks that protect data across industries.

I’m Riten, founder of Fueler, a platform that helps freelancers and professionals get hired through their work samples. In this article, I’ll walk you through the top 10 US cybersecurity startups to watch in 2026. Beyond knowing which companies are shaping the industry, the deeper message is about trust and presentation. Just like a startup builds trust by proving its security systems are reliable, as professionals we prove our credibility by showcasing our portfolios. A portfolio is not just about listing past projects, it is the evidence of your skill, your consistency, and your reliability in a competitive space.

Why US Cybersecurity Startups Matter in 2026

The landscape of digital threats has evolved dramatically. In 2024 alone, ransomware cases grew by over 60%, and phishing attempts now account for more than 9 out of 10 attacks worldwide. With customer data migrating to hybrid and cloud infrastructures, the vulnerabilities have only multiplied.

Startups have stepped into this space with specialized solutions focused on cloud workloads, AI-driven detection, zero trust architectures, and endpoint protection. Investors have also followed the trend, funding billions of dollars into cybersecurity startups because the demand keeps growing. These are the 10 US startups that stand out in 2026 because of their rapid growth, innovative offerings, and ability to anticipate the future of cyber defense.

1. Abnormal Security: AI-Powered Email Protection

Phishing, spoofing, and email-based ransomware remain top risks worldwide. Abnormal Security focuses specifically on combating these threats by analyzing user behavior and building unique communication profiles. Rather than simply blocking suspicious links, it compares every message with historical user interactions, instantly flagging unusual patterns.

• Uses behavioral AI that continuously learns user communication styles, making it harder for attackers to bypass filters.
• Identifies subtle impersonation attempts in business email compromise scams, which often cause millions in financial damages.
• Offers smooth integration with platforms like Google Workspace, Slack, and Microsoft 365, reducing friction for IT teams.
• Detects and blocks insider threats, phishing attempts, ransomware payloads, and hidden malware attachments.
• Reduces false positives with advanced filtering, saving businesses thousands of work hours otherwise wasted on manual reviews.

Why it matters: Over 91% of breaches start from email attacks, making email security a frontline defense. Abnormal Security scales this protection for both small organizations and large enterprises, keeping them ahead of sophisticated scammers.

2. Arctic Wolf: Managed Security Operations

A growing number of companies lack specialized internal security teams. Arctic Wolf solves this with its Security Operations as a Service model, offering around-the-clock monitoring, analysis, and response without the need for costly SOC investments. It has become a go-to resource for SMBs and mid-market firms.

• Provides 24/7 threat monitoring across endpoints, cloud, and network layers, ensuring no suspicious activity is missed.
• Offers Managed Detection and Response (MDR) that quickly identifies and neutralizes potential intrusions before they escalate.
• Integrates with vulnerability management systems to patch weaknesses before attackers exploit them.
• Uses global threat intelligence networks and machine learning analytics to predict and prevent upcoming attacks.
• Guarantees organizations access to expert-level cybersecurity talent, a critical advantage given the industry-wide skill shortage.

Why it matters: With over 3.5 million cybersecurity positions unfilled globally in 2026, Arctic Wolf empowers businesses that cannot afford large in-house teams, ensuring protection at a fraction of the cost.

3. Axonius: Cyber Asset Management & Visibility

Modern businesses often struggle with blind spots due to rapidly expanding devices, applications, and users. Axonius addresses this by giving a real-time, unified view of all assets, so IT teams know exactly what is connected to their network. This reduces risks created by unmanaged devices and shadow IT.

• Detects and monitors every device, software, and user across multi-cloud and hybrid infrastructures in real time.
• Automates compliance reporting by ensuring all security policies apply to every connected asset.
• Helps organizations discover and shut down unauthorized or unpatched devices before they become entry points.
• Provides risk scoring and prioritization, showing which assets require attention first.
• Offers automated responses backed by integrations with over 500 security and IT solutions, eliminating silos and making workflows faster.

Why it matters: If you cannot see your entire network, you cannot secure it. Axonius ensures visibility across even the most complex IT environments, which is critical in 2026 when businesses expand across multiple digital platforms.

4. Hunters: Autonomous Threat Hunting

Threat detection often relies on manual investigation, which is slow and resource-intensive. Hunters automates this entire process with advanced AI-driven detection and response systems to identify risks at lightning speed. It has become known for turning raw security events into actionable context.

• Automates the work of a skilled SOC team, drastically reducing investigation timelines.
• Aggregates alerts from multiple sources (endpoint, SIEM, and cloud platforms) into powerful, contextual insights.
• Deploys advanced analytics and machine learning to remove data noise, highlighting only critical alerts.
• Offers incident correlation, linking seemingly disconnected events to highlight advanced persistent threats.
• Reduces burnout for SOC analysts, letting them focus on high-level decision-making instead of chasing endless alerts.

Why it matters: With the average breach taking 280 days to detect, Hunters helps companies shorten detection windows to hours or minutes, dramatically reducing economic and reputational risks.

5. Claroty: Security for OT & IoT Infrastructure

Claroty specializes in operational technology (OT) and Internet of Things (IoT) cybersecurity. As industries automate processes and adopt smart devices, vulnerabilities scale fast. Claroty protects these critical environments that standard IT security tools often fail to cover.

• Provides comprehensive visibility into OT, IoT, and Industrial Control Systems (ICS) networks.
• Detects unauthorized devices and connections that often go unnoticed in legacy systems.
• Integrates with enterprise security to deliver a unified IT and OT approach.
• Offers zero-trust segmentation, reducing cross-network attack surfaces.
• Protects critical industries like healthcare, manufacturing, and energy against shutdown-inducing attacks.

Why it matters: Disruptions in OT-based industries can cost billions in downtime and threaten human safety. Claroty’s role in defending these environments makes it crucial as industrial attacks rise in 2026.

6. Illumio: Zero Trust Segmentation

With attackers frequently moving laterally through systems after gaining access, Illumio’s zero trust segmentation prevents escalation by restricting unauthorized communication. Unlike traditional firewalls, it works across multicloud and hybrid infrastructures dynamically.

• Creates real-time visibility into application traffic and internal movement.
• Blocks lateral movement within compromised networks, isolating incidents before they spread.
• Helps organizations meet compliance standards faster through automated micro-segmentation.
• Adapts seamlessly to cloud-first and multi-data center environments, reducing deployment hassles.
• Enables companies to roll out zero trust frameworks effectively without redesigning their whole IT stack.

Why it matters: Lateral movement is often the key stage when small breaches turn into full-scale crises. Illumio addresses this head-on, reducing both exposure and incident impact dramatically in 2026.

7. Orca Security: Cloud Security at Scale

Cloud-native companies require solutions built specifically for their environment. Orca Security delivers agentless, side-scanning tools that analyze workloads instantly without disruptions. It is known for fast deployment and powerful visibility for cloud-only businesses.

• Provides agentless cloud workload scanning, ensuring comprehensive coverage with low overhead.
• Maps risks by finding misconfigurations, vulnerabilities, malware, and excessive permissions.
• Offers contextual prioritization, helping teams focus on the most exploitable risks first.
• Works across AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, and SaaS apps for multi-cloud businesses.
• Delivers compliance automation, reducing the cost and time of standard audits.

Why it matters: Cloud-first businesses continue to rise in 2026, and traditional perimeter security no longer applies. Orca offers specialized protection perfectly suited for these fast-scaling organizations.

8. Deep Instinct: Preventive AI Cybersecurity

Deep Instinct pioneers a prevention-first strategy using deep learning technology to stop malicious files before execution. Unlike detection-based tools, it blocks malware in real time by analyzing raw data faster than attackers can adapt.

• Uses deep learning neural networks, giving it predictive capabilities against zero-day exploits.
• Detects ransomware, fileless malware, and advanced persistent threats that evade legacy tools.
• Works independently of cloud connectivity, ensuring protection even when offline.
• Continuously trains on petabytes of threat data, expanding accuracy every day.
• Reduces false positives while achieving industry-leading prevention rates.

Why it matters: In 2026, real innovation lies in prevention, not reaction. Deep Instinct represents a shift from patching problems after the fact to stopping them ahead of time.

9. Cybereason: Extended Detection and Response (XDR)

Cybereason empowers organizations with its next-gen XDR platform built to handle the volume of cyberattacks modern businesses face. It orchestrates threat intelligence and automated response into one comprehensive tool.

• Offers cross-platform XDR, protecting endpoints, networks, and cloud environments simultaneously.
• Deploys advanced AI-driven hunting capabilities that uncover stealth attacks.
• Combines detection with automated playbooks for faster incident remediation.
• Helps SOC teams scale by merging endpoint, SIEM, and threat intelligence into one dashboard.
• Reduces attacker dwell time significantly, making breaches less damaging.

Why it matters: Complex hybrid infrastructures demand XDR platforms like Cybereason to unify visibility. By centralizing risk management, it helps businesses gain an edge against advanced threats that bypass fragmented tools.

10. Snyk: Developer-Friendly Security for Applications

Snyk focuses on application security by shifting protection left—helping developers secure code, containers, and open-source dependencies early in the pipeline. By addressing risks during the development stage, it lowers the downstream costs of vulnerabilities.

• Integrates directly with GitHub, Bitbucket, and GitLab, allowing developers to spot vulnerabilities in real time.
• Scans for insecure dependencies in open-source libraries before merging into production.
• Provides detailed insights and recommendations, turning security into part of the coding process.
• Supports container scanning and Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC), adapting to DevOps workflows.
• Offers automated patch generation, fixing issues without slowing down release cycles.

Why it matters: As software drives innovation, insecure applications are one of the biggest risks. Snyk’s developer-friendly design embeds security early, crucial for every modern business building apps at scale.

Fueler and The Trust Factor

Just like these cybersecurity startups earn trust through innovation and visibility, professionals need a way to prove their expertise reliably. That is where Fueler comes in. Fueler helps you build a portfolio where your work becomes your strongest credential. Your proof of work whether projects, assignments, or freelance gigs becomes the security layer for your career growth.

Final Thoughts

The demand for cybersecurity is only set to grow as our digital footprints expand. Startups like Abnormal Security, Orca, Hunters, and others on this list show how innovation can bring agility and affordability to an industry often burdened by complexity. For companies, investing in these tools could mean survival. For professionals, the lesson is about showing proof. In cybersecurity or career growth, trust is built when you back up your claims with evidence.

FAQs

1. What are the best cybersecurity startups in the US in 2026?

The top US cybersecurity startups in 2026 include Abnormal Security, Arctic Wolf, Axonius, Hunters, Claroty, Illumio, Orca Security, Deep Instinct, Cybereason, and Snyk.

2. Which US cybersecurity startup focuses on cloud security?

Orca Security is a top US startup specializing in cloud-native security with agentless scanning and compliance tools.

3. What is the fastest-growing cybersecurity company in America?

Arctic Wolf is among the fastest-growing, as demand for managed detection and response continues to rise in the US.

4. Why are US cybersecurity startups important in 2026?

They provide advanced, affordable, and scalable solutions using AI, zero trust, and cloud-first protection for businesses under rising cyber risks.

5. Which cybersecurity startups raised the most funding in 2026?

As of 2026, Abnormal Security, Orca Security, Arctic Wolf, and Snyk are among the most heavily funded cybersecurity startups in the US.

What is Fueler Portfolio?

Fueler is a career portfolio platform that helps companies find the best talent for their organization based on their proof of work. You can create your portfolio on Fueler, thousands of freelancers around the world use Fueler to create their professional-looking portfolios and become financially independent. Discover inspiration for your portfolio

Sign up for free on Fueler or get in touch to learn more.