An X-Ray of the AI that tests companies' defences, ahead of Hadrian's $40M round
Before co-leading Hadrian's $40M round, Smartfin and Forgepoint Capital wanted an independent read on its product, technology and team. The X-Ray, with a short confirmatory phase, confirmed solid technology, a strong team and a defensible platform.
Hadrian
Hadrian's AI agents map a company's external attack surface and test, every day, which exposures an attacker could actually exploit. Smartfin and cybersecurity specialist Forgepoint Capital were preparing to co-lead its next round. They wanted an independent view on the technology and the team. The key question: what makes Hadrian's technology proprietary and defensible, at a time when AI makes software faster to build?
How it went
Scoping with both investors
Briefings with Smartfin and Forgepoint on the investment thesis. One shared scope, one set of reports.
The X-Ray
As a security company, Hadrian keeps tight control over its code, so its team selected the key repositories, including the technology behind its hacking agents. The X-Ray showed how the agents are built, and what is proprietary versus what could be rebuilt with standard AI tooling. An AI-driven assessment of an AI that tests the defences of large organisations every day.
Confirmatory interviews
Three focused sessions with leadership, product and engineering, prepared from the X-Ray and the RFI.
What the team showed us
Rogier, Prash, Rutger and their engineers showed us agents that find and validate real weaknesses at the scale of large organisations. Validation is the hard part: by Hadrian's own figures, only 0.47 percent of scanner findings are actually exploitable. Cutting-edge work, explained with great clarity.
Working with Forgepoint's practitioner
Forgepoint brought in Timothy Neslony, with 20 years in offensive cyber at the NSA, US Cyber Command and the White House. He reviewed the X-Ray output and our conclusions, adding a practitioner's view.
Reports and read-out
An X-Ray report and a prioritised set of recommendations, followed by a read-out with the investors.
“Scaleflow worked within our security constraints from day one. Our investors got a clear view of our technology and our team, without slowing the round down.”
What the assessment showed
- Solid technology, built by a strong and very capable team.
- Proprietary agentic technology at the core of a defensible platform.
- A mature product process.
- Nothing that changed the investment case.
The outcome
- One shared, independent technical read for both co-leads, two weeks after the first code was in.
- A clear answer on defensibility, the question every AI investment now raises.
- Hadrian kept control of its code: the X-Ray worked on the repositories its team selected.
- The tech DD ran alongside the financial and legal workstreams, within the deal timeline.
- Smartfin and Forgepoint went on to co-lead Hadrian's $40M round.
- Hadrian received a prioritised set of recommendations for after the round.
- For Scaleflow: proof that the X-Ray can assess autonomous agents built to attack. We learned a lot from Hadrian's team.
Hadrian
Cybersecurity / offensive security
An AI-native offensive security platform. Its agents map a company's external attack surface and continuously test what an attacker could exploit, for companies across Europe and the US.
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