Belgian Unicorn Aikido Is Building Its Next Chapter in America

Belgium does not produce many billion-dollar cybersecurity companies. Aikido Security is becoming a notable exception.

Founded in Ghent in 2022, the developer-focused cybersecurity company entered 2026 with significant momentum. In January, it raised a $60 million Series B at a $1 billion valuation, officially giving the company unicorn status only a few years after its founding. The round was led by DST Global, with participation from investors including PSG Equity, Notion Capital and Singular.

The valuation was the headline. What has happened since may be more relevant to European founders looking at America. Aikido has been steadily transforming from a fast-growing Belgian software company selling internationally into a business building substantial operations, partnerships and product infrastructure around the U.S. market.

America is already economically important to the company. At the time of its Series B, Aikido said revenue had grown roughly fivefold over the previous year while its customer base had nearly tripled. Reuters reported that around half of the company's revenue was already coming from the United States.

From Ghent to Chicago

The clearest physical sign of Aikido's American expansion came in May, when the company opened its U.S. headquarters in Chicago's River North district.

The move followed what Aikido described as nearly 300% year-over-year growth in its U.S. customer count. American customers cited by the company include Pendo and Niantic, while its broader global customer base includes companies such as Revolut and SoundCloud.

The Chicago operation is not intended to remain a small satellite office. Aikido said it expects to build a team of more than 100 employees in Chicago by mid-2027, covering go-to-market and operational functions as it expands across North America.

That makes Aikido an interesting example of a European technology company whose U.S. expansion followed customer traction rather than preceded it. Significant American demand was already present before the company established a major physical operation in the country.

Becoming a buyer, not just a startup

Aikido has also started using acquisitions to broaden its technology platform. In June, the company acquired Root, a cybersecurity company focused on securing the software supply chain.

Root's technology uses AI agents to generate patches for vulnerabilities in versions of open-source packages that companies are already running. Aikido is integrating those capabilities into products designed to provide patched libraries and container images without requiring customers to move immediately to entirely different software versions.

The acquisition signals a broader change. Aikido is no longer behaving purely like a venture-backed startup developing a single security tool. It is beginning to assemble a wider security platform through internal development, partnerships and acquisitions.

Building its own security AI

Aikido's product ambitions have accelerated further in the second half of 2026 as artificial intelligence changes both software development and cybersecurity.

The company introduced Aikido Machine, an AI-powered penetration-testing system designed for organizations that want to keep sensitive code and security data inside their own environments.

In September, Aikido went further with the launch of Altar, its first open-weight security AI model. Altar is designed to operate entirely within a customer's infrastructure and can be used to power autonomous penetration testing without sending sensitive code to external AI providers.

For enterprise customers in regulated or security-sensitive industries, the ability to run security AI inside their own infrastructure could become increasingly important. It also shows Aikido moving beyond simply integrating third-party artificial intelligence into its products toward owning more of the underlying intelligence layer.

Getting closer to the American technology ecosystem

Geographic expansion is only one part of Aikido's U.S. strategy. The company is also becoming more deeply integrated with some of the platforms that American developers and enterprises already use.

On September 17, Aikido announced that it had achieved AWS Security Competency for Application Security, a designation recognizing companies with demonstrated technical expertise in securing applications running on Amazon Web Services.

Aikido has also developed ties with AWS's AI-assisted development ecosystem. Those relationships matter because distribution in enterprise software is rarely only about opening offices and hiring sales teams. Integration into platforms already used by developers can provide another route into the U.S. enterprise market.

Investing in the open-source ecosystem

Aikido's latest move extends beyond commercial partnerships. On September 28, the company announced that it had become an inaugural partner in the OpenJS Foundation's Security Stewardship Program, initially supporting security work around Node.js.

The program provides resources for vulnerability discovery as well as the maintainers responsible for fixing security problems. Aikido's contribution will support bug bounties and direct maintainer support.

The initiative fits with a broader effort by Aikido to participate in the software ecosystems its customers depend on. For a cybersecurity company, contributing to open-source security can build technical credibility while increasing visibility among developers who influence security purchasing decisions.

The U.S. is becoming part of the company, not simply another market

Aikido's trajectory illustrates an important distinction for European companies entering America: selling into the United States and building in the United States are not the same thing.

Aikido already had substantial U.S. revenue before opening its Chicago headquarters. It has since combined that commercial traction with local hiring, plans for a 100-plus-person American team, relationships with major U.S. technology ecosystems and an increasingly ambitious product portfolio.

The company's roots remain in Ghent, but its operating footprint is increasingly transatlantic. That makes Aikido particularly unusual within Belgium's technology ecosystem: a Belgian-founded cybersecurity company that reached a $1 billion valuation within several years while generating roughly half of its revenue from the United States.

The more important question now is what happens after the unicorn milestone. During 2026 alone, Aikido has opened its American headquarters, acquired another cybersecurity company, expanded its AI capabilities, developed its own security model, strengthened its AWS relationship and increased its involvement in critical open-source infrastructure.

What this means for European companies

Aikido offers a useful model for European technology companies approaching the U.S. market. American expansion did not begin with an office opening. Customer demand came first, followed by revenue, local infrastructure, hiring and deeper participation in the U.S. technology ecosystem.

For European founders, the lesson is that meaningful U.S. expansion increasingly requires more than exporting a product across the Atlantic. The companies that establish durable positions in America often become part of the market itself — through employees, customers, partnerships, acquisitions and local ecosystems.

Aikido is still a Belgian-founded company. But it is increasingly becoming a cybersecurity company being built on both sides of the Atlantic.