Acuvity

Researched 2026-07-13; brand-status re-verified 2026-07-27. Primary category: ai-access-governance. Acquired by Proofpoint — announced as completed 2026-02-12. Brand retired: acuvity.ai now 301-redirects to Proofpoint’s AI Security platform page. Shop for this as Proofpoint AI Security, not Acuvity.

One-liner — An AI security and governance startup (RYNO platform) covering the full span of enterprise AI usage — shadow-AI visibility from endpoints and browsers through to runtime enforcement on agents and MCP servers — now shipped as Proofpoint’s AI Security product line.

What it does

Acuvity’s RYNO platform gave security teams visibility and enforcement across “the full range of AI usage in the enterprise”: employee GenAI use discovered at endpoints and browsers (including locally installed tools like Ollama), plus runtime inspection and governance of autonomous agents and MCP servers. That dual scope — workforce shadow-AI governance and agent/MCP runtime security in one product — is what distinguished it from single-lane peers and what Proofpoint bought it for.

As of 2026-07-27 that capability is sold as three Proofpoint SKUs under the AI Security platform:

• AI Access Security — discovery/inventory of AI apps (first-party, third-party, embedded) and AI agents; runtime observability; runtime inspection and enforcement with 18 built-in detectors; forensic audit trails; SIEM/SOAR routing.
• Agentic AI Security — governance of autonomous agent behavior.
• AI MCP Security — MCP server discovery and risk classification (missing auth/encryption, unsanctioned remote hosts, local servers on employee machines), gateway-style inline enforcement (identity, permissions, content inspection before a request reaches the server), transaction forensics across user → app → LLM → server, and a “trusted MCP server registry” of 800-plus pre-vetted open-source servers.

Naming / provenance

Page kept at slug acuvity (the acquired company) rather than renamed to a product slug the way proofpoint-dspm was: the Acuvity technology did not land as one shopping unit but was split across three Proofpoint SKUs, so no single product slug fits. Unlike Normalyze, Proofpoint published no “Acuvity is now Proofpoint” transition page (that URL 404s) — the redirect goes straight to the platform page and the Acuvity/RYNO names appear nowhere in Proofpoint’s product content.

Where it sits in the stack

Primary ai-access-governance (the workforce AI-usage governance job — the natural fit with Proofpoint’s human-centric security portfolio), cross-listed in agent-runtime-security for the agent/MCP runtime side. Layer: model-prompt. Post-acquisition, Proofpoint positions the combination as “the first unified platform to comprehensively secure every dimension of the agentic workspace” — collaboration security, data security/governance, and AI security together.

Deployment & architecture

Platform with endpoint/browser-level visibility and runtime enforcement points for agents and MCP traffic; SaaS delivery assumed but not confirmed (open question). The MCP piece is an inline gateway (requests are brokered and inspected before reaching the server), not passive monitoring — confirmed on Proofpoint’s AI MCP Security page 2026-07-27. Emerged from stealth 2024-09; ran as a lean ~24-person team pre-acquisition.

Positioning & differentiators

• Breadth across the AI usage surface — one platform from employee chat use to local AI tools to agent/MCP infrastructure, where most shadow-AI peers stop at the browser/network.
• MCP-era coverage — early mover on securing MCP servers and agent tool calls, the same forward-looking angle F5 cites for surepath-ai. Under Proofpoint this has hardened into a named SKU with a gateway and a vetted-server registry.
• Data-context pitch — Proofpoint’s differentiation claim is now “intent-aware” AI security: AI runtime controls joined to its data security estate (proofpoint-dspm + Proofpoint DLP). That is a platform argument, not an Acuvity one — treat it as vendor marketing until you see the integration.
• No longer a standalone tool — like proofpoint-dspm before it, the brand is gone (site redirects, name absent from product pages). Evaluate it as Proofpoint’s AI-security line, priced and packaged by Proofpoint.

Nearest neighbors: surepath-ai (the closest analogue — both discovery-led, both acquired by platform vendors in 2026), witnessai, harmonic-security, aurascape, lanai; on the agent/MCP side zenity, lasso-security, operant-ai.

Ownership, funding & M&A

HQ Sunnyvale, CA; founded by cybersecurity/engineering veterans (founding year and founder names not verified — open question). Emerged from stealth 2024-09 with a $9M seed led by Foundation Capital. Acquired by Proofpoint, announced as completed 2026-02-12 (PR past tense; no separate close date given); terms undisclosed. Ownership chain: Proofpoint is Thoma Bravo-owned, so Acuvity is now a Thoma Bravo-portfolio asset — Proofpoint’s second data/AI-security acquisition after proofpoint-dspm (DSPM, 2024). Verified against Proofpoint’s press release. Confidence: high.

CTO / hedge-fund lens

Relevant mainly as Proofpoint’s AI-security answer: if you already run Proofpoint for email/collaboration security and DLP, this arrives as consolidation — shadow-AI visibility plus agent/MCP governance under an existing vendor relationship, now on Proofpoint’s paper and roadmap. If you’re not a Proofpoint shop, the comparators are the independent shadow-AI specialists; there is no longer an Acuvity to buy on its own. Practical note for procurement: ask for the SKU names (AI Access Security / Agentic AI Security / AI MCP Security), not “Acuvity” — the name has been retired for ~5 months and is absent from Proofpoint’s product content. Integration depth and pricing still unverified; no FS traction verified.

Competitors / alternatives

surepath-ai, witnessai, harmonic-security, aurascape, nudge-security, lanai, cyberhaven, zenity, lasso-security.

Open questions / to verify

• Founding year and founder names/backgrounds.
• Deployment model (SaaS assumed, unconfirmed) and workforce-side enforcement mechanism (agent, browser extension, network) — the MCP side is confirmed gateway.
• Packaging and pricing of the three AI Security SKUs (sold separately, bundled, or platform-only?).
• Deal price (undisclosed) and whether a separate close date was ever stated — the PR is past-tense at announcement.
• Data handling: where AI-usage telemetry/prompt content is processed and retained.
• Whether RYNO survives as a product/brand — resolved 2026-07-27: brand retired.
• MCP support depth (monitoring vs gateway) — resolved 2026-07-27: gateway (inline enforcement).

Sources

• Proofpoint AI Security platform (redirect target of acuvity.ai) — fetched 2026-07-27 — supports: acuvity.ai 301-redirects here, page fully Proofpoint-branded with no Acuvity/RYNO mention, brand retired, “intent-aware” AI-security-plus-data-security positioning; confidence: high
• Proofpoint AI MCP Security — fetched 2026-07-27 — supports: MCP discovery + risk classification, gateway-style inline enforcement, transaction forensics, trusted-MCP-server registry; confidence: high
• Proofpoint AI Access Security — fetched 2026-07-27 — supports: AI app/agent discovery and inventory, runtime observability, 18 built-in detectors, forensic audit trails, SIEM/SOAR routing; confidence: high
• Proofpoint acquires Acuvity (Proofpoint press release) — fetched 2026-07-13 — supports: acquisition announced as completed 2026-02-12, terms undisclosed, product scope (shadow AI + agents/MCP), agentic-workspace positioning; confidence: high
• Press/search corroboration (BankInfoSecurity, Futurum, Crunchbase, No Jitter, Thoma Bravo newsroom — not separately cached): $9M seed led by Foundation Capital at 2024-09 stealth exit, Sunnyvale HQ, ~24 employees, RYNO platform name; confidence: med.
• Cached: raw/sources/2026-07-13--acuvity--proofpoint-acquisition-pr.md, raw/sources/2026-07-27--acuvity--brand-retired-proofpoint-ai-security.md

History

• [2026-07-13] Page created via wiki-create + researched: surfaced while triaging Google-suggested SurePath competitors (user request). Acquired-closed by Proofpoint (announced as completed 2026-02-12); categorized ai-access-governance + agent-runtime-security cross-list.
• [2026-07-27] URL audit flagged the site. Verified acuvity.ai 301-redirects to https://www.proofpoint.com/us/platform/ai-security, a wholly Proofpoint-branded page with zero Acuvity content; no “Acuvity is now Proofpoint” transition page exists (404). Brand retired; capability now ships as AI Access Security / Agentic AI Security / AI MCP Security. Updated website, aka, mcp_support unverified→gateway, last_verified→2026-07-27; added frontmatter sources:. Resolved two open questions (brand survival, MCP depth). Slug kept as acuvity — the tech split across three SKUs, so no single product slug applies (contrast proofpoint-dspm). No new acquisition facts: announced-as-completed 2026-02-12 stands, price still undisclosed.