Backed by IVP and Index, Venice gives organisations real-time, zero-standing-privilege control over high-risk access points across cloud, SaaS, on-prem, and AI-driven systems

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK / ACCESS Newswire / February 18, 2026 / Venice (formerly Valkyrie), an adaptive privileged access platform, today announced its launch and $33M in total funding, including a $25M Series A. The latest round was led by IVP with participation from Index Ventures, Vine Ventures, Holly Ventures, and leading angel investors. Venice modernises Privileged Access Management (PAM) by uncovering and controlling access across the entire enterprise, and removes standing access entirely. The platform provides unified, consistent control across human, machine, and AI-driven identities to ensure that only the right entities ever reach critical data and only for the moments they should.

Venice already serves fortune 500 enterprises in finance, media, hospitality, manufacturing, healthcare, and technology, reducing standing privileges by 99%. With women representing 40% of the team, the company operates out of Tel Aviv and New York.

For decades, privileged access was controlled through vaults, password rotation, and slow approval workflows built for on-prem servers and small IT teams. Today, large enterprises manage tens of thousands of human, machine, and AI identities across cloud, SaaS, and automated systems, making access far harder to monitor and secure. According to a recent report, 86% of breaches involve stolen or compromised credentials, underscoring how high-risk permanent access has become. And with AI accelerating the speed and sophistication of attacks, organisations require a new, adaptive model for securing access.

"The way organisations manage access isn't keeping up with how business operates today," said Rotem Lurie, co-founder and CEO of Venice. "Teams move faster, environments shift constantly, and AI is accelerating operations across the enterprise and threat actors. Access control needs to match that tempo. Venice is on a mission to provide real-time access, granted only when required, and removed the moment it's not. We appreciate the support of our investors as we bring this needed approach to the market."

Founded by cyber-intelligence veterans Rotem Lurie (CEO; previously head of product at Axis Security and a Forbes 30 Under 30 alumnus) and Or Vaknin (CTO; formerly founding teams at Transmit Security and Flow Security), Venice delivers real-time control over high-risk access across cloud, SaaS, on-prem, and AI-driven environments. Instead of relying on vaults and permanent permissions, Venice discovers every identity and entitlement, even in complex hybrid environments, and grants access only when it's needed, and removes it the moment it's not. The platform eliminates standing privilege by default, granting access only when needed and adapting in real time as environments shift. With no agents, proxies, or heavy deployment work, Venice gives enterprises one place to see and manage sensitive access at scale, reducing risk while keeping operations fast.

"What stood out about Rotem and her team was their clarity of mission," said Cack Wilhelm, General Partner at IVP. "Enterprises can't rely on static access in a world where identities shift by the second, and AI is accelerating the speed at which attackers exploit privileged access. Venice's adaptive system will set a new standard for how global organizations operate and protect themselves."

About Venice
Venice is the adaptive privileged access platform for the AI era. Built for cloud, SaaS, on-prem, and machine-driven environments, Venice eliminates standing privileges through real-time, contextual access control, without agents or proxies. Enterprises rely on Venice to reduce identity-based risk, accelerate operations, and maintain continuous audit integrity at scale. Learn more at Venice.io

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SOURCE: Venice