# Sumit Agarwal

> Sumit Agarwal is the CEO and co-founder of Ario, a Palo Alto AI assistant that takes aim at the 'invisible labor' of running a household - the school calendars, the returns, the meal planning. Before Ario he co-founded Shape Security, a fraud-prevention company F5 acquired for more than $1 billion. Earlier he was the youngest-ever Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense at the Pentagon, a retired US Air Force major and one of the first officers in network warfare at Cyber Command, and ran mobile operations at Google. Ario raised $16 million in seed funding in June 2024 from Floodgate, Wing Venture Capital, Bain Capital Ventures and Moxxie.

- **Role:** CEO & Co-founder at Ario
- **Organizations:** Ario (heyario.com), Shape Security, F5, Shield Capital, Google, U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Air Force, Immersion Corporation (board)
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** B.S., Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Master's, Military Operations, U.S. Air Force - Air University
- **Known for:** Co-founded Shape Security, acquired by F5 for over $1 billion, Youngest Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense ever to serve in the Pentagon, One of the first officers in network warfare at U.S. Cyber Command

## Career timeline

- **circa 2000s** — Commissioned in the U.S. Air Force; among the first officers in network warfare at Cyber Command
- **pre-2010** — Led mobile operations at Google
- **2010-2011** — Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense and Senior Advisor for Cyber Innovation at the Pentagon
- **2011** — Co-founded Shape Security (with role as COO), an anti-fraud cybersecurity company
- **2020** — Shape Security acquired by F5 for more than $1 billion
- **circa 2020-2022** — Partner at Shield Capital
- **2022** — Co-founded Ario; became CEO (December 2022)
- **2024** — Ario closed $16M seed round to tackle 'invisible labor' with AI
- **2025** — Delivered talk 'The Adversarial Path to the Personal Assistant' at AI Engineer World's Fair

## Achievements

- Co-founded Shape Security, acquired by F5 for over $1 billion
- Youngest Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense ever to serve in the Pentagon
- One of the first officers in network warfare at U.S. Cyber Command
- Retired Major, U.S. Air Force; roughly two decades in the National Guard
- Founded three companies over 25 years in Silicon Valley
- Raised $16 million seed for Ario from Floodgate, Wing Venture Capital, Bain Capital Ventures and Moxxie
- Member of the board of directors at Immersion Corporation

## Latest updates

- **2024-06** — Ario closed a $16 million seed round led by top-tier investors to tackle 'invisible labor' with AI.
- **2025-02** — Published 'The Adversarial Path to the Personal Assistant' talk from the AI Engineer World's Fair.

## Links

- Website: https://heyario.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sumitagarwalusaf
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckLXb15BnM8

---

Profile page: https://yespress.io/sumit-agarwal
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-21