The watchful AI that never sleeps: Hakimo’s $10.5M bet on autonomous security

Hakimo Announced today It has secured $10.5 million in Series A funding to expand its autonomous security monitoring platform. The round of the Menlo Park-based AI Security Startup is Vertex Ventures and Zigg Capital,participate RXR Arden Digital Ventures and existing investors defy.vc and Gokul Rajaram. This brings The company’s total funding reached $20.5 million.

The company’s flagship product, AI Operator– An autonomous security agent that monitors existing security systems, detects threats in real time, and executes response protocols with minimal human intervention as the physical security industry struggles with staffing shortages, rising costs and falsified alert fatigue.

“The rising costs and a serious shortage of high-quality security personnel are driving this shift,” Sam Joseph, co-founder and CEO of Hakimo, explained in an exclusive interview with VentureBeat. “The company saves about $125,000 a year compared to the guards, so switching to Hakimo is effortless for customers.”

AI security agent detects any threat described in text

Unlike conventional security monitoring services, Hakimo combines computer vision with generative AI to create a system that can detect abnormalities or threats that can be described in words.

“Hakimo’s AI operators are constantly ingesting live video feeds from existing security cameras and other sensors, such as alarm systems and door sensors,” said Joseph. “Our AI operators are trained to identify abnormalities and threats such as unauthorized personnel, trailing, wandering, invading restricted areas or abnormal behavior.”

When the system detects a potential threat, it justifies through a pre-programmed response protocol and issues a real-time audio warning through the live speaker. Upgrade to human operators only if necessary. This multi-layer approach allows for comprehensive security coverage at a fraction of the cost of traditional guard services.

Another difference is the system’s ability to use existing hardware. “Companies can deploy Hakimo in just a few minutes, integrating directly with existing cameras and hardware without the need for new infrastructure,” Joseph explained.

24/7 How AI surveillance performs better than traditional security personnel

Hakimo’s growth addresses major challenges facing traditional security methods, including police departments’ refusal to deal with unverified alerts and labor crises in the industry of manned protection.

“The guards can’t be anywhere anywhere, especially in campuses, large warehouses and even car dealerships,” Joseph said. “On the other hand, Hakimo’s surveillance cameras can achieve 100% coverage as long as there are enough cameras on site.”

The CEO highlighted other advantages: “The guards must have mandatory rest during shifts, and Hakimo’s AI AI operators will never take any rest. Responsibility Risk: The high risk of the Guards is high, creating a huge risk of responsibility, which creates a huge responsibility.

Over the past year, the company has tripled its customer base, serving more than 100 customers across industries, including multifamily apartments, car dealerships, construction sites and Fortune 500 businesses. In 2024 alone, Hakimo’s technology has blocked thousands of security incidents, assisting law enforcement in multiple arrests and even saving lives.

“Our AI operators found a person who collapsed late at night, no one around.

Why investors bet millions of dollars

Hakimo’s investment reflects an increasing awareness that physical security needs to be reshaped by technology as traditional methods such as security services and alert monitoring look increasingly obsolete and costly.

Through the new funding, Joseph plans to “scalate and enhance our AI platform capabilities and scale operations to new markets and industries.” The company targets businesses in multiple fields that require effective physical security solutions.

“Any business that needs to protect physical assets or personnel can benefit greatly from physical assets or personnel, especially property management, car dealerships, construction sites and campuses,” Joseph said. Citing examples include an elimination of monthly car dealerships, breaking in monthly, a high-rise apartment building that saves nearly a million dollars on security personnel spending and reduces security costs by 90% for a student housing investor, while also reducing security costs.

Create a universal platform for smart video surveillance

Hakimo was founded in early 2020 by Sam Joseph and Sagar Honnungar, both Stanford-trained AI experts with a background in enterprise SaaS. They identified the convergence trend: explosive camera deployment, reduced hardware costs, and rapid advances in computer vision.

Their vision goes beyond current applications: “In five years, Hakimo aims to be a universal platform for smart video surveillance and understanding, effectively creating and leading new categories in the physical security industry,” Joseph said.

As AI evolves, Hakimo’s approach may preview how intelligent systems will enhance security (in some cases) replace human workers in security and other ways.

“Our vision is that Hakimo will be a platform for all kinds of video surveillance,” Joseph said. “Anyone should be able to connect any camera to Hakimo and say ‘Look for X, do Y when you see X happening.'”