Skyld
Skyld is a French deeptech cybersecurity startup that provides an SDK and services to protect AI models deployed on edge devices from reverse engineering, model extraction, and adversarial attacks, serving enterprises in critical infrastructure sectors such as healthcare, defense, mobility, and energy.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2023
- HeadquartersRennes, France
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Skyld does
Skyld is a French deeptech cybersecurity startup founded in July 2023 and headquartered in Rennes, with a satellite presence via Berkeley SkyDeck acceleration. The company develops SDK-based security solutions that protect AI models deployed on edge devices and on-premises environments against reverse engineering, model extraction, and adversarial attacks. Its underlying technology combines advanced encryption with algebraic transformations designed specifically to keep models protected both at rest and during execution — addressing the runtime-exposure gap that traditional encryption leaves when models are decrypted for inference. The core platform supports major machine-learning frameworks (ONNX, PyTorch, TensorFlow Lite, Keras, TorchScript) and NVIDIA TensorRT, and is compatible with Android, Linux, embedded Linux and Windows targets, with the vendor claiming 100% model accuracy preservation and generally below 20% performance overhead.
Skyld's product portfolio comprises three complementary offerings: AI Protection (the core SDK securing on-device models), AI Licensing (a monetization and control layer enabling device/GPU binding, expiration dates and inference counting), and AdverScan (an adversarial robustness-testing service across image, text, audio, tabular and multimodal AI). Revenue is generated through subscription/recurring SDK licensing (AI Protection, AI Licensing) and professional services (AdverScan engagements), with no publicly disclosed pricing tiers. Go-to-market is enterprise field sales via a "Request a Demo" motion, targeting large organizations in critical-infrastructure sectors — energy, healthcare, defense, mobility and industry — as well as any company deploying AI models on untrusted environments such as mobile, IoT, embedded systems, browsers and on-premises servers. Named reference customers include Thales (aviation trajectory intelligence), HopeValley AI (breast-cancer detection since July 2023), Pulse Audition (smart hearing glasses) and Sonaide (AI teleassistance), and the firm raised a €1.5 million seed round in October 2025 led by Auriga Cyber Ventures and Bloomhaus Ventures with BNP Paribas Développement and Sodero participating.
Skyld firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Skyld
- Legal name
- Skyld
- Website
- https://skyld.io
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2023
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Skyld is a French deeptech cybersecurity startup that provides an SDK and services to protect AI models deployed on edge devices from reverse engineering, model extraction, and adversarial attacks, serving enterprises in critical infrastructure sectors such as healthcare, defense, mobility, and energy.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Skyld industry classification
Industry- Product category
- AI Security Software
- NAICS
- Security Systems Services (except Locksmiths) (561621)
- SIC
- Services-Computer Programming Services (7371)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Secure Model Deployment & Runtime Protection (sandboxing, isolation) (HDAAAKAH)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Identity, Access & Secrets Management for AI Systems (IAM for agents/models) (HDAAAKAJ), Model Security Testing & Red Teaming (adversarial ML, jailbreaks) (HDAAAKAC)
Keywords
Where Skyld is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Rennes
- HQ country
- France
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices1 record
Markets served
Skyld business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- SDK Licenses: Revenue generated from licensing the Skyld SDK for AI model protection, including AI Protection and AI Licensing solutions. Customers deploy models protected by the SDK on their devices.
- AdverScan Testing Services: One-time or recurring robustness testing engagements to evaluate AI model resilience against adversarial examples.
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels1 record
Marketing channels6 records
Skyld product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Skyld provides an SDK-based AI model protection platform that uses advanced encryption and algebraic transformations to secure AI models against reverse engineering, model extraction, and adversarial attacks, both at rest and during execution. The offering is complemented by an AI Licensing solution for model monetization and an AdverScan service for adversarial robustness testing.
Product overview
Skyld offers a unified product portfolio of three AI security solutions: AI Protection (core SDK for model anti-reverse-engineering), AI Licensing (monetization and license enforcement built on AI Protection), and AdverScan (adversarial robustness testing). The SDK integrates with standard ML frameworks (ONNX, PyTorch, TensorFlow Lite, Keras, TorchScript) and deployment tools (TensorRT). The three products work together: AdverScan identifies vulnerabilities, AI Protection secures models, and AI Licensing enables controlled distribution and revenue generation from protected models.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- AI Protection: SDK to protect on-device AI models against reverse engineering with low computing footprint.
- AI Licensing
- AdverScan
Products and services
- AI Protection A software development kit (SDK) that secures on-device AI models against reverse engineering and model extraction using military-grade protection with advanced encryption and algebraic transformations. Protects models at rest and during execution on Android, Linux, and embedded Linux environments, compatible with ONNX, PyTorch, TensorFlow Lite, and Keras formats.
- AI Licensing An AI model licensing and monetization solution built on top of AI Protection. Enables companies to deploy, manage, and monetize AI models through device-binding, GPU binding, expiration dates, and inference counting with a unique activation key per model.
- AdverScan An adversarial testing service that hardens AI models against adversarial examples by simulating real-world attacks. Provides detailed diagnostics and actionable recommendations to strengthen model robustness across image recognition, audio, NLP, and tabular data modalities.
Quantifiable outcome
- 100% model accuracy preserved after protection
- +1 more outcomes
Companies that use Skyld
Customer profileNamed customers4 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
Skyld technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration5 records
AI capability8 records
Feature3 records
Skyld partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Seven partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.
- SISTA AI ProgramminorSkyld joined the first SISTA AI cohort, a European program dedicated to supporting AI startups.
- STATION F Female Founders FellowshipminorSkyld joined the Female Founders Fellowship at STATION F, the world's largest startup campus, supporting women-led startups.
- Orange Women Entrepreneurs Program Season 7minorMarie Paindavoine participated in Season 7 of the Women Entrepreneurs Program led by Orange, supporting women-led businesses.
- Women TechEU ProgramminorMarie Paindavoine joined the Women TechEU Program, recognizing women in Deep Tech.
- Thales Cyber@Station FcoreSkyld joined Thales Cyber@Station F acceleration program, benefiting from Thales' expertise and cybersecurity ecosystem.
- Inria Startup StudiocoreSkyld is a spin-off of Inria (French National Institute for Research in Computer Science and Automation) and was supported by Inria Startup Studio for its formation.
- Berkeley SkyDeckcoreSkyld was accelerated by Berkeley SkyDeck, one of the leading startup accelerators, providing mentorship, resources, and global network access.
Scale indicators3 records
Recent moves10 records
Expansion highlights7 records
Skyld competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- HiddenLayer: HiddenLayer provides adversarial threat protection and detection for AI/ML models, offering model scanning, red-teaming, and runtime protection. Direct competitor in the AI model security space, particularly overlapping with Skyld's AdverScan offering.
- Lakera: Lakera provides AI security and adversarial robustness for LLM and ML applications, including red teaming and prompt injection defense. Adjacent to Skyld in the broader AI model security category with focus shift toward LLM-era threats.
- CalypsoAI: CalypsoAI provides AI security, model validation, and red teaming for enterprise AI deployments. Overlaps with Skyld on adversarial robustness testing and AI model governance.
- Zama: Zama develops open-source homomorphic encryption tools for machine learning, enabling computation on encrypted data. Comparable deeptech cryptography-for-ML approach, although Zama focuses on data privacy while Skyld focuses on model IP protection.
- Troj.AI: Troj.AI provides AI red teaming and adversarial testing services for ML models. Direct overlap with Skyld's AdverScan service in adversarial robustness testing.
- Adversa AI: Adversa AI focuses on AI red teaming, adversarial robustness, and secure AI deployments across LLM and ML models. Comparable to Skyld's AdverScan product for adversarial testing.
- Protect AI: Protect AI (acquired by Palantir in 2024) offered a platform for ML supply chain security, model scanning, and AI asset protection. Closely comparable to Skyld across model vulnerability testing and AI security posture management.
- Robust Intelligence: Robust Intelligence (acquired by Cisco) provided AI firewall and continuous model validation against adversarial inputs. Direct overlap with Skyld's adversarial testing and runtime model protection capabilities.
Broad incumbents
- Arm (TrustZone / Kleidi): Arm provides hardware-rooted security (TrustZone) and AI software libraries (Kleidi) used to protect models deployed on edge devices. A broad incumbent that could integrate equivalent protections at the chip/firmware layer, competing with Skyld's software SDK model.
- Microsoft Defender for AI / Azure AI Content Safety: Microsoft bundles AI security, model evaluation, and content safety into its cloud and Defender platforms. A broad incumbent offering overlapping capabilities for enterprise customers but without Skyld's depth in on-device model IP protection.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Skyld social profiles
Digital presenceSkyld financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Skyld leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles3 records
Skyld funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds2 records
Investors7 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Skyld M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Skyld
What does Skyld do?
Skyld provides an SDK-based AI model protection platform that uses advanced encryption and algebraic transformations to secure AI models against reverse engineering, model extraction, and adversarial attacks, both at rest and during execution. The offering is complemented by an AI Licensing solution for model monetization and an AdverScan service for adversarial robustness testing.
Is Skyld a public or private company?
Skyld is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was Skyld founded?
Skyld was founded in 2023. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Skyld based?
Skyld is headquartered in Rennes, France, in the Europe region.
How does Skyld make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. SDK Licenses are the primary driver. The others are adverScan Testing Services.
Who are Skyld's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are HiddenLayer, Lakera, CalypsoAI, Zama, Troj.AI, Adversa AI, Protect AI and Robust Intelligence. Broad incumbents are Arm (TrustZone / Kleidi) and Microsoft Defender for AI / Azure AI Content Safety.
Does Skyld have an API?
No public API is recorded for Skyld.
What industry is Skyld in?
Skyld's product category is AI Security Software. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HDAAAKAH, Secure Model Deployment & Runtime Protection (sandboxing, isolation), with a secondary code of HDAAAKAJ, Identity, Access & Secrets Management for AI Systems (IAM for agents/models). Its NAICS code is 561621 and its SIC code is 7371.