Venice Raises $33M to Redefine Privileged Access Management

In an era where artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming enterprise operations, identity security has become one of the most critical frontiers in cybersecurity. The launch of Venice, backed by $33 million in total funding, including a $25 million Series A led by Institutional

Venture Partners with participation from Index Ventures, signals a major shift in how organizations approach Privileged Access Management (PAM).

As businesses expand across cloud platforms, SaaS ecosystems, and automated environments, the number of identities requiring privileged access has exploded. Enterprises now manage thousands of human, machine, and AI identities simultaneously, while attackers increasingly target identity pathways to infiltrate systems.

Traditional PAM systems were designed for a different technological era, one dominated by on-prem servers, human administrators, and static infrastructure. Security teams relied on credential vaults, password rotations, and manual approval processes to control access.

However, modern enterprises move far faster than those legacy workflows can support. Cloud infrastructure shifts constantly, teams deploy code continuously, and AI agents now interact with systems autonomously. In this environment, persistent access and long-lived credentials can quickly become major security risks.

This is the challenge Venice is setting out to solve.

Vision Behind Venice

Venice was founded by Rotem Lurie and Or Vaknin, who recognized that traditional access management models were failing to keep pace with how modern organizations operate.

Their mission is centered around a powerful concept: privileged access should exist only when it is needed, and disappear the moment it is not.

As Rotem Lurie explains:

“The way organisations manage access isn't keeping up with how business operates today. Teams move faster, environments shift constantly, and AI is accelerating operations across the enterprise and threat actors.”

To address this gap, Venice is building a platform designed to deliver real-time privileged access, replacing static credentials with dynamic, on-demand permissions.

The Shift Toward Zero Standing Privilege

At the heart of Venice’s approach is the concept of Zero Standing Privilege (ZSP). Instead of granting users permanent access to critical systems, privileges are provided only when required through Just-in-Time (JIT) access.

Once a task is completed, access is immediately revoked.

This dramatically reduces the window of opportunity for attackers and minimizes the risks associated with compromised credentials. Venice is already helping Fortune 500 organizations reduce standing privileges by up to 99%, demonstrating how powerful this shift can be in practice.

The platform is also designed to manage privileged access for both human users and AI agents, a growing challenge as enterprises deploy automated systems that require elevated permissions to perform tasks.

Backed to Build the Future of PAM

The company’s strong investor backing reflects growing industry recognition that identity is becoming the primary attack surface in modern cybersecurity.

Support from Institutional Venture Partners and Index Ventures provides Venice with the resources to scale its platform, expand its engineering team, and accelerate adoption among large enterprises navigating increasingly complex identity environments.

Why This Matters for CISOs

For CISOs and security leaders, the rise of AI, automation, and cloud infrastructure is fundamentally reshaping identity management.

Inside conversations with Fortune 1000 security leaders, several trends are becoming clear:

• Persistent access equals persistent risk
• AI agents are emerging as a new class of privileged identity
• Just-in-time access is quickly becoming an enterprise requirement

Venice’s approach reflects a broader shift toward identity-first security, where real-time access controls replace static credentials and continuous privilege exposure.

Looking Ahead

Cybersecurity is entering a new phase where identity management must evolve alongside AI-driven operations and rapidly changing digital environments. Legacy PAM models built for slower, centralized systems can no longer keep pace with modern enterprise demands.

By rethinking privileged access around real-time permissions and zero standing privilege, Venice is positioning itself at the forefront of this transformation.

Execweb congratulates Venice on this milestone. The $33M funding round highlights both investor confidence and the growing urgency of securing privileged access in the AI era. For security leaders navigating an increasingly complex identity landscape, innovations like Venice could play a key role in shaping the future of enterprise cybersecurity.