A startup just raised $66 million to give AI workers their own digital IDs

A cybersecurity startup called NewCore stepped out of stealth mode this week with $66 million in seed funding, betting that companies will soon need to manage AI agents the same way they handle human employees—complete with logins, permissions, and termination protocols.

The round was led by Cyberstarts, with Index Ventures and Evolution Equity Partners joining in. The deal values NewCore at $300 million post-investment.

NewCore’s pitch is straightforward: as more businesses put AI agents to work—Goldman Sachs tested the coding agent Devin as an employee last year, and McKinsey says 25,000 AI agents now work alongside its 60,000 staff—those digital workers need their own identities, not just generic service accounts.

CEO Zohar Alon, who previously sold cloud-security firm Dome9 to Check Point, says existing identity systems weren’t built for this. “The scale and complexity AI agents will add to 15- or 20-year-old identity platforms will break them,” he told TechCrunch.

NewCore’s platform manages both human and AI identities in one place. AI agents get their own permissions, lifecycles, and revocation rules. The company also offers a mobile app that lets employees approve or block agent access, adding human oversight.

Alon says the idea clicked in 2023 while reviewing a company’s tech budget. The client was paying a fortune for an identity provider—but wasn’t happy with it. “I asked, ‘You must be thrilled with them.’ He said, ‘No, I’m not.’” That moment convinced Alon the identity market was ripe for disruption.

Big players like Okta and Microsoft are adding AI features to their platforms. But Alon argues those are add-ons to systems designed for people. NewCore, he says, was built from scratch for a mixed workforce of humans, machines, and agents.

The startup has 50 employees across the U.S. and Israel, fewer than 10 paying customers, and more than a dozen design partners. It plans to start charging this summer.

Alon predicts AI agents could outnumber human staff at tech companies within a few years. “It’s inevitable,” he said. “The question is whether we build the guardrails in time.”