Belgian cybersecurity startup Aikido hits $1B unicorn status after $60M Series B funding led by DST Global

Aikido just joined Europe’s unicorn club, and it did it fast. The Belgian cybersecurity startup closed a $60 million Series B round at a $1 billion valuation, led by DST Global. The deal puts Aikido among the first new European unicorns of 2026 and one of the fastest security companies anywhere to cross the billion-dollar mark.

Founded in 2022, Aikido built its product for people who write code for a living. The platform helps developers identify security risks early and remediate them automatically, before those issues escalate into costly breaches. Think of it as guardrails that stay out of the way until something looks off.

“Aikido focuses on developers. The product is really meant for people who write software,” CEO Willem Delbare told Reuters. “You could see it as guardrails for writing secure software, especially when you’re using AI.”

“Today, we’re excited to announce Aikido has raised a $60M Series B at a $1B valuation, led by Tom Stafford at DST Global, with participation from PSG Equity, Singular, Notion Capital, and others. It’s a big milestone for Aikido. And a meaningful one for Europe; we’re one of the fastest cybersecurity companies to reach unicorn status globally, and the fastest ever in Europe,” the company wrote in a blog post.

(Yes, this is an actual slide from Aikido’s Series B pitch deck.)

Aikido hits unicorn status as revenue surges 5x and customer base triples

That focus appears to be working. Aikido says more than 100,000 teams now use its software, including the Premier League, SoundCloud, Niantic, and Revolut. Over the past year, revenue jumped fivefold, and the customer base more than tripled. Roughly half of that revenue now comes from the United States, a key market for security vendors.

The timing makes sense. AI tools are changing how software gets written, speeding up development and raising new security questions along the way. Investors see that shift as a big opening.

“AI is having a material impact on software development, and that impact will only grow. So we need new approaches to security like what Aikido is doing,” said Tom Stafford, managing partner at DST Global.

DST is no stranger to breakout companies. The firm backed Meta, Spotify, and Alibaba early in their journeys. Its bet on Aikido signals confidence that developer-first security platforms could define the next phase of the market.

Before this round, Aikido had raised $24 million. The new capital provides the company with greater capacity to scale product development and expand its global footprint.

In an industry long dominated by U.S. giants and Israeli security heavyweights, Aikido’s rise stands out. It shows Europe can still produce world-class security startups that win on a global stage. And for a company that launched just three years ago, crossing the unicorn line feels less like a victory lap and more like the start of something bigger.