Palo Alto Networks To Acquire Portkey To Boost AI Security Play

US-based cybersecurity firm Palo Alto Networks has announced its intent to acquire AI infrastructure startup Portkey, as it looks to strengthen its capabilities in securing enterprise adoption of autonomous AI systems.

The companies did not disclose the financial terms of the transaction. The deal is expected to close in Palo Alto Networks’ fourth quarter of fiscal 2026, subject to the necessary approvals.

The move comes as Palo Alto Networks looks to double down on its strategy to build a comprehensive AI security stack, as enterprises transition towards “agentic” architectures amid the rapid rise in adoption of AI agents. These agents are increasingly being deployed to execute complex workflows, access sensitive data, and make real-time decisions.

According to the company, over 80% of enterprises are already piloting or have implemented AI agent solutions.

Palo Alto Networks said the proliferation of AI agents has created a new and largely “invisible” attack surface, driven by limited visibility, fragmented controls, and a lack of centralised governance.

To address this, the company plans to integrate Portkey’s AI gateway into its Prisma AIRS platform to secure AI applications and agents at scale.

The AI gateway is designed to provide enterprises with a centralised enforcement layer, enabling real-time authentication, authorisation, and monitoring of all AI interactions within a single framework.

Palo Alto Networks chairman and CEO Nikesh Arora said the rise of autonomous AI systems is creating a new category of enterprise risk. “AI agents have become privileged insiders, reasoning and executing on behalf of users and companies. With that power comes a new category of risk. You cannot build an agentic enterprise without a centralised control plane to secure it,” Arora said in a LinkedIn post.

He added that Portkey’s platform is already operating at scale, processing trillions of tokens every month.

Founded in 2023 by Ayush Garg and Rohit Agarwal, Portkey runs an LLMOps platform that acts as a single access layer for more than 1,600 AI models. To put simply, it lets enterprises route requests across different models, manage traffic efficiently, and avoid disruptions with built-in fallback systems.

Its platform also helps companies keep track of how models are being used, enforce internal policies, and monitor costs in real time, while offering features such as observability and guardrails.

At its core, Portkey’s product works as an AI gateway, sitting between applications and LLMs. This allows enterprises to manage and secure AI interactions at scale, even as systems handle large volumes of traffic, including communication between AI agents, while maintaining visibility and control over data access.

The acquisition announcement comes months after Portkey raised $15 Mn (nearly ₹136.6 Cr) in its Series A funding round led by Elevation Capital. The round also saw participation from existing backer Lightspeed. In a statement at the time, the startup said it planned to use the funding to expand its product suite and scale its go-to-market operations.

Portkey’s CEO Garg said in a LinkedIn post that the startup reached a turning point when its product evolved from a tool used by teams into a core infrastructure layer powering enterprise AI systems, processing billions of API calls and being deployed in production environments.

He added that the decision to join Palo Alto Networks is aimed at moving beyond a niche offering and building an industry standard for securing and managing AI systems.

According to him, integration with the Prisma AIRS platform will help Portkey scale faster with greater resources, while continuing to develop AI security and control as a foundational layer for enterprises.

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