Belgian unicorn Aikido buys Warsaw's Cyberly to guard staff from AI scams
What's the deal? Aikido Security, a Belgian cybersecurity firm, has acquired Warsaw-based startup CyberlyDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → for an undisclosed sum. Cyberly's AI tools, which test and train employees against realistic attack simulations, protected over 300,000 workers across more than 200 organisations before the deal.
What's the endgame? Aikido is folding Cyberly into Noon, a new platform that combines email and device protection, attack simulations, and staff training. It also acquired Belgian firm OutkeptDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → in parallel to build the product.
Why now? The move pushes Aikido beyond its core business — finding and fixing security flaws in code, cloud infrastructure, and apps — into protecting the people who use software. "Attackers don't always have to break into software when they can simply trick the people who use it," said Alex Horlach, Cyberly co-founder (translated from Polish).
Founded in Belgium in 2022, Aikido counts over 150,000 teams as users, including SoundCloud, Niantic, Runway, and Deel. In January 2026 it reached unicorn status after a $60 million round at a $1 billion valuation — faster than any other European cybersecurity company. It has since made several acquisitions and, in September 2026, launched its own AI model for cybersecurity.
What's the expansion? Warsaw will become one of Noon's development hubs. All four Cyberly founders stay on, the team keeps working from Poland, and Aikido plans to grow it as the platform scales.
Cyberly was founded in 2024 by Horlach, Evgeny Chamtonau, Pavel Hraznykh, and Andrew Labadzinski. It raised funding from Zone II VenturesDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, KAYA VCDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, Andrena, and Octopus Ventures, and was backed from the start as adviser and investor by Vlad Yatsenko, co-founder of Revolut.
The signal: Noon targets attacks where criminals use AI to impersonate people known to employees — cloned voices, convincing emails, and fake login pages chained into one scam. "The cybersecurity industry has long treated software protection and employee protection as two separate worlds," said Aikido chief executive Willem Delbare (translated from Polish). The deal reflects a broader push to merge the two as AI makes social engineering cheaper and more convincing.
Read more: mamstartup.pl
Image credit: Generated with Gemini
