The company that asked a plain question at the dawn of the container era - who is watching all of this? - and built a cloud native security platform that now guards more than 500 of the world's largest enterprises from code to cloud.
When developers moved to containers, the old security tools stayed behind. Firewalls and endpoint agents were built for servers that lived for years, not for a Kubernetes pod that spins up for ninety seconds and vanishes. Aqua Security was founded in 2015 by Dror Davidoff and Amir Jerbi to close exactly that gap - to secure software that is built, shipped and torn down continuously.
The result is the Aqua Platform, a Cloud Native Application Protection Platform, or CNAPP. In plain terms, it watches an application across its whole life: it scans source code and container images before they ship, checks cloud configurations for mistakes, and then guards the workload while it is actually running. It does this across containers, Kubernetes, serverless functions and cloud virtual machines, on AWS, Azure, Google Cloud and hybrid setups.
What sets the approach apart is a refusal to pick a side in the industry's long argument. Some rivals scan only from the outside (agentless); others require software installed on every workload (agent-based). Aqua combines both in one platform, which lets it offer broad visibility and deep, in-the-workload detection at the same time.
The company frames itself, pointedly, as "an integrated platform, not a portfolio of acquired vendor solutions" - a jab at competitors assembled through acquisition. For a security team fielding an alert at two in the morning, one system that speaks one language is the difference that matters.
"The pioneer in securing containerized cloud native applications from development to production."
Aqua's commercial platform sits on top of a free tool that millions of engineers already trust.
A free, single-binary scanner for vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, secrets and SBOMs across containers, Kubernetes, code and clouds. With 32k+ GitHub stars and over 100M downloads a year, it is the most popular tool of its kind - and Aqua's growth engine.
The integrated code-to-cloud CNAPP that prioritizes real risk and automates prevention, detection and response. Combines agent and agentless technology so teams get both wide coverage and deep runtime protection.
Trivy for the enterprise: centralized management, a UI, premium threat intelligence, malware scanning and standalone binary scanning - built for organizations that need scale and governance.
Real-time detection and prevention for running containers, Kubernetes clusters, serverless functions and cloud VMs - stopping attacks in production, not just flagging them.
End-to-end, multi-layered prevention of supply chain attacks across the development pipeline, from source to registry to deployment.
Full lifecycle security for AI applications, plus an MCP server that lets AI agents investigate, contain and remediate live runtime incidents.
Aqua protects more than 500 of the world's largest enterprises - among them financial services, software, media, manufacturing and retail organizations - with deployments spanning containers, serverless functions and cloud VMs across every major cloud. Beyond its paying customers sits a far larger base: millions of developers who run open source Trivy in their pipelines every week.
Aqua runs an open-core, B2B SaaS model. The free Trivy scanner drives wide developer adoption; that adoption converts into commercial Trivy Premium and full-platform subscriptions sold to enterprises. Deals also flow through cloud marketplaces such as AWS and channel partners including Carahsoft and IBM. In short: give engineers a tool they love, then meet the enterprise where it already is.
Aqua reached unicorn status in 2021 and held a valuation above $1 billion through its 2024 Series E extension. Relative scale of selected rounds:
Investors include Insight Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners, TLV Partners, Microsoft's M12, ION Crossover Partners, Evolution Equity Partners and StepStone Group. Figures approximate; total funding ~$325M.
The CNAPP market is crowded: Wiz, Palo Alto Networks' Prisma Cloud, CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security, Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Orca Security, Sysdig and Lacework all compete for the same budgets. Prisma and Wiz carry the largest market mindshare.
Aqua's strength is depth in containers and Kubernetes across the full lifecycle - image scanning through runtime - with agent-based detection that agentless-only tools cannot match. Many organizations run both: a broad posture tool for the cloud, and Aqua for deep workload protection. Its open source Trivy roots give it a developer credibility rivals buy at a premium.
Dror Davidoff and Amir Jerbi launch the company to secure the emerging container ecosystem.
Image scanning and runtime protection for containerized applications arrive.
A simple single-binary scanner that rapidly becomes a developer favorite.
A $135M Series E led by ION Crossover Partners pushes the valuation past $1 billion.
Aqua expands into end-to-end prevention of supply chain attacks.
Evolution Equity Partners leads a follow-on round; total funding reaches $325M.
The partner program launches and Mike Dube becomes CEO as founders move to advisory roles.
An MCP server for agentic runtime incident response and new risk dashboards debut.
Former CEO, now strategic advisor. Came from enterprise sales at McAfee and ForeScout. Led Aqua for a decade before the 2025 handoff.
Former CTO, now strategic advisor. Brought architecture experience from CA Technologies to shape Aqua's container-native design.
Appointed CEO in November 2025, previously president and chief revenue officer. Joined Aqua from CrowdStrike, where he led North America Strategic Sales.
Product demos and talks from Aqua's official channel.
It secures cloud native applications from development to production. The Aqua Platform is a CNAPP that scans code and container images, enforces policies, manages cloud posture and protects workloads at runtime across containers, Kubernetes, serverless and cloud VMs.
It was founded in 2015 by Dror Davidoff and Amir Jerbi. In November 2025 the founders moved to advisory roles; Mike Dube became CEO and Nir Makowski became Chief Product and Technology Officer.
Trivy is Aqua's free, open source scanner for vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, secrets and SBOMs. With 32k+ GitHub stars and over 100M annual downloads, it is the most popular tool of its kind and the foundation of commercial Trivy Premium.
About $325M in total across eight rounds, most recently a $60M Series E extension in January 2024 led by Evolution Equity Partners, at a valuation above $1 billion.
In the CNAPP market Aqua competes with Wiz, Palo Alto Networks' Prisma Cloud, CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security, Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Orca Security, Sysdig and Lacework, differentiating on deep container and Kubernetes protection and its open source Trivy foundation.