Escape raises $18M to replace pen-testers with AI agents

The timing is not coincidental. In October 2025, Escape published research that scanned more than 5,600 publicly deployed applications built with vibe coding platforms, tools like Lovable, Base44, and Bolt.new that let non-developers build and ship apps by describing what they want in plain English. The results were stark: over 2,000 high-impact vulnerabilities, hundreds of exposed secrets, and cases of personal data sitting exposed in live production systems, accessible to anyone who knew where to look.

That research made the pitch for Escape’s $18 million Series A almost write itself. The round was led by Balderton Capital, with participation from new investor Uncorrelated Ventures and existing backers IRIS and Y Combinator. It brings the company’s total funding to $23 million since its founding in 2020.

Escape was founded in New York by Tristan Kalos (CEO) and Antoine Carossio (CTO), two French engineers who met at ...