Conifers.ai, a cybersecurity platform based in Dallas and Tel Aviv, is growing fast after emerging from stealth in January with a $25 million funding announcement.

The company announced it has expanded its U.S. headquarters in Dallas, is actively hiring, and has added three industry veterans to its board of directors: Art Coviello of SYN Ventures, who will serve as chairman; David Johnson of TLG Holding; and Ryan Permeh of SYN Ventures.

Since its formal launch in January, Conifers.ai said it has more than doubled its headcount to meet rising demand for its platform. 

The company’s CognitiveSOC platform uses agentic AI—systems that act autonomously, adapt in real time, and solve multi-step problems—to help organizations tackle security operations challenges at scale, increasing efficiency and reducing risk.

Conifers.ai has said its platform serves as a “force multiplier” for expedited investigation of security incidents, leveraging customers’ existing tools and portals.

Co-founder and CEO Tom Findling said the rising need for both quality and efficiency in security operations is fueling strong adoption.

“We’re seeing significant demand for our unique approach, which is transforming security operations for both the enterprise and security service providers through advanced AI, disruptive pricing, and a staged implementation model,” Findling added in a statement.

Conifers.ai said its new board members bring decades of experience in business strategy, mergers and acquisitions, and technology leadership as the company scales its operations in the U.S. and globally.

The “extensive expertise” of the new advisors will be “invaluable to our growth and long-term success,” the Findling said.

More on new board members

Coviello is the managing partner and IC chairman for Flagship Funds, SYN Ventures. He’s been a central figure in the information security industry for over 25 years. Notably, Coviello was president and CEO of RSA and following RSA’s acquisition by EMC for $2.1B, as an executive vice president of EMC and head of its Security Division.

Since stepping down from RSA in 2015, Coviello has been an active investor and advisor in the technology industry, guiding many startups as a private investor and currently as a managing partner of SYN Ventures.

Johnson is senior partner and member of the investment committee at TLG Holding.

According to Conifers, Johnson is a globally recognized corporate strategist and expert in M&A and related integration, having successfully completed over 120 acquisitions representing more than $40 billion of equity investment, divestitures, and venture capital investments. Johnson co-founded TLG Capital Partners after having joined The Blackstone Group, where he was a senior advisor and senior managing director.

While at Blackstone, Johnson led the firm’s technology sector, where he was responsible for numerous domestic and international acquisitions in cybersecurity, cloud solutions, IT services, consulting, and outsourcing.

Permeh is the operating partner at SYN Ventures and previously was the co-founder and chief scientist of Cylance, acquired by BlackBerry for $1.4 billion in 2020. He led the architecture behind Cylance’s mathematical engine and groundbreaking approach to security, Conifers said.

Permeh has been in the security industry for over 20 years and has a long history in both offensive and defensive security. Before co-founding Cylance, he served as chief scientist for McAfee, where he focused on technology strategy, and as a distinguished engineer at eEye Digital Security, where he built advanced security assessment tools.

Coviello praised Conifers.ai’s approach to transforming security operations through AI.

“Conifers’ approach to leveraging AI in cybersecurity is innovative, solving complex challenges SecOps teams face as a result of escalating threats, and directly addressing pain points in the industry while increasing value for the customer,” Coviello said in a statement. “As their growth accelerates, I look forward to contributing to their strategic vision and business objectives to help make them successful in the market as they scale.”

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