Cerbos is a technology company.
Cerbos has raised $3.0M across 1 funding round.
Cerbos has raised $3.0M in total across 1 funding round.
Cerbos has raised $3.0M in total across 1 funding round.
Cerbos's investors include Abstract Ventures, Addition, Atlassian Ventures, Awesome People Ventures, Crane Venture Partners, EQT Ventures, Founder Collective, Golden Section Ventures, Helpful Capital, IA Ventures, Slack Fund, Stellar Capital.
Cerbos is an open-source authorization layer that provides scalable, policy-based access control for cloud-native applications, enterprise software, AI systems, and microservices.[1][2] It separates authorization logic from application code, enabling fine-grained, contextual permissions via YAML policies evaluated by its Policy Decision Point (PDP), serving developers, product managers, and enterprises needing Zero Trust security.[2][3] Cerbos solves the problem of hardcoded, rigid authorization by allowing instant policy updates without redeploys, supporting RBAC/ABAC models, GitOps integration, and auditing for compliance.[1][2] Founded in 2021 and based in London, it has gained traction with 2.2k GitHub stars, low-latency decisions (<1ms), and positive reviews for ease of use in AI workflows and apps.[2][6]
Cerbos emerged in 2021 in London, UK, as a response to the challenges of managing complex permissions in modern, distributed software architectures like microservices and cloud-native apps.[1] While specific founders are not detailed in available sources, the company was built around an open-source core to address the pain of embedding authorization logic directly in code, which leads to brittle systems requiring redeploys for changes.[3] Early traction came from its GitHub availability and developer-friendly design, including SDKs for multiple languages and stateless deployment options (containers, VMs, Kubernetes, Lambda).[2][4] Pivotal moments include industry awards, AuthZen membership, and expansions into AI security like RAG pipelines and MCP servers, with recent news highlighting its scalability as of May 2025.[1][2]
Cerbos rides the Zero Trust and cloud-native security wave, where microservices, AI proliferation, and compliance demands make traditional in-code authorization obsolete.[2][3] Timing aligns with rising AI workloads (e.g., securing RAG/MCP) and Kubernetes dominance, as distributed systems demand decoupled, scalable auth to avoid single points of failure.[1][4] Market forces like GDPR/SOC2 audits and GitOps adoption favor its centralized, observable model, reducing developer toil while enabling product owners to iterate policies independently.[2][6] It influences the ecosystem by open-sourcing standards (GitHub free tier, Slack community), fostering adoption in cybersecurity (10k+ related firms) and empowering startups/enterprises to build secure apps faster.[1][7]
Cerbos is poised for expansion with its AI security push and managed Hub, targeting growing needs in enterprise Zero Trust amid AI agent booms.[2][8] Trends like multi-cloud, edge computing, and stricter regs will amplify demand for its low-latency, compliant PDP. Influence may evolve via deeper ecosystem integrations (e.g., more SDKs, partnerships) and enterprise wins, solidifying its role as the go-to authorization layer for scalable software—much like how it already decouples permissions to unlock secure innovation at speed.[1][2]
Cerbos has raised $3.0M across 1 funding round. Most recently, it raised $3.0M Seed in November 2021.
| Date | Round | Lead Investors | Other Investors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 1, 2021 | $3.0M Seed | Abstract Ventures, Addition, Atlassian Ventures, Awesome People Ventures, Crane Venture Partners, EQT Ventures, Founder Collective, Golden Section Ventures, Helpful Capital, IA Ventures, Slack Fund, Stellar Capital, Target Global, Valar Ventures, WGI Group, Wing Venture Capital, World Fund, Charles Delingpole, DJ Patil, Dylan Field, Jon Steinberg, Roger Ehrenberg, Scott Belsky, Stefan Jeschonnek |