Opti raises $20M to bring explainable AI automation to enterprise identity security

Opti raises $20M to bring AI-native automation to enterprise identity security

Opti, an AI-native identity security platform, secured $20 million in seed funding led by YL Ventures, Mayfield Fund and Hetz Ventures, with participation from Squared Circle Ventures, Maple Capital and angel investor Shlomo Kramer. The company says the capital will fund product expansion and global growth.

For executive teams, the signal is clear: identity and access management (IAM) needs more automation. Many organizations still rely on manual reviews, ticket queues and spreadsheets-one reason only about half of enterprises rate their IAM tools as effective.

Why this matters for management

Identity sits at the center of security risk, audit exposure and operational cost. Research cited by Opti points to strong gains from automation in cybersecurity efficiency and risk management, with studies in critical infrastructure indicating AI can improve threat detection by up to 98%.

The takeaway: treating IAM as an automated, data-driven program can cut time-to-remediate, shrink access sprawl and reduce the burden of compliance tasks that drain team capacity.

What Opti is building

Opti proposes an AI-first operating model for identity. Its platform interprets identity risk, recommends least-privilege decisions and orchestrates safe access changes across large organizations with full human oversight.

• Pretrained, domain-expert large language models trained on curated identity data and industry frameworks
• Graph-like mapping of relationships between users, systems and permissions
• Real-time visibility into vulnerabilities, misconfigurations and excessive access
• Validated least-privilege recommendations that are explainable and actionable
• Agentic AI orchestration to execute and continuously verify access corrections
• Compliance models that turn entitlements into straightforward user access reviews

How this translates to business outcomes

• Reduce risk exposure by tightening access to least-privilege at scale
• Lower audit and review costs with clearer evidence and fewer manual steps
• Accelerate onboarding/offboarding and access changes with fewer tickets
• Give leaders higher confidence in access decisions with auditable explanations

Where it fits in your stack

Opti is built for complex identity infrastructures and is already in use across finance, retail, healthcare and technology. Think of it as an intelligence and automation layer that sits across your identity data and workflows to assist (and verify) decisions-not a rip-and-replace of core IAM.

Leadership perspective

Barak Perelman, Opti's CEO and co-founder, said enterprises are dealing with identity data at a scale that's hard to control. Teams work hard, but much of their effort goes to handling complexity instead of higher-value work. Opti's goal is to give them an intelligence layer that speeds up identity operations, makes them clearer and keeps them safer.

Yoav Leitersdorf, managing partner at YL Ventures, said the space has leaned on fragmented, manual and outdated systems for too long. In his view, Opti's AI-native approach reduces complexity, saves resources and strengthens enterprise defenses.

What to ask your team this quarter

• How many identities, roles and entitlements are we managing today, and how fast is that growing?
• What percentage of access reviews and changes are still manual? What's our average approval and remediation time?
• Where do we have the most excessive access or dormant privileges? How do we measure progress month over month?
• How explainable are our access decisions during audits, and what's the evidence trail?
• If we automate least-privilege at scale, which cost and risk metrics should improve first?

Company snapshot

Founded in 2024 by cybersecurity entrepreneurs Barak Perelman, Mille Gandelsman and Ido Trivizki, Opti applies generative AI and specialized large language models to automate identity operations, reduce exposure to security risks and support continuous compliance. The platform analyzes thousands of identity-related data points and their business context to deliver precise, explainable and instantly actionable insights.

Why now

IAM has become a high-volume data problem. As identity sprawl grows-with users, apps, machines and APIs-manual methods can't keep up. AI-native automation offers a way to scale decisions, keep humans in control and cut both risk and operating cost.

Next steps for executives

• Run a scoped pilot focused on least-privilege remediation for a high-risk business unit
• Define clear success metrics: time-to-remediate, percent excessive access removed, audit findings, ticket volume
• Establish human-in-the-loop guardrails and evidence requirements from day one
• Upskill identity and security ops teams on AI-assisted workflows and review processes

If you're building internal capability in AI automation for security and IT operations, consider this practical certification path: AI Automation Certification.

Funding details

Seed round: $20 million led by YL Ventures, Mayfield Fund and Hetz Ventures. Participating investors include Squared Circle Ventures, Maple Capital and angel investor Shlomo Kramer. The company plans to use the funding for product expansion and global go-to-market.

Bottom line for management: If identity is a top risk and a recurring audit headache, AI-native automation is worth a serious look. The leaders who standardize explainable, automated least-privilege now will set a lower cost base and a stronger security posture for the next cycle.