Vanta Partners with XBOW to Deliver Autonomous Penetration Testing to Startups

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Vanta, the leading AI-powered trust management platform, today announced a new exclusive partnership with XBOW, bringing autonomous penetration testing (commonly called pen testing) directly into the Vanta platform. The integration makes it easier and faster for startups to meet the growing expectations of security-conscious buyers—offering high-quality pen tests in hours, not weeks, and without the enterprise price tag.

Today’s startups face higher scrutiny than ever. With fewer levers to pull to demonstrate trust—no marquee customers, no massive funding rounds—security becomes a key differentiator. Penetration tests simulate real-world cyber attacks to uncover vulnerabilities and assess an organization’s security posture. But for many, traditional pen testing has been out of reach—forcing them to fall back on costly, human-led services that take weeks to deliver results.

“Startups are expected to meet the same security standards as large enterprises, but they often lack the resources to get there," said Christina Cacioppo, CEO, Vanta. "With XBOW, we can bring ambitious companies the world’s best pen tester built into their security and compliance platform. By making expert-level testing more accessible, we're helping companies of all sizes build and earn trust from day one.”

Trusted Pen Testing, Made Accessible for All

With Vanta and XBOW, security teams can access autonomous pen testing powered by AI—surfacing more critical vulnerabilities, more quickly, than humans alone can detect. The result: a more accurate view of infrastructure security, delivered at a fraction of the cost and time.

Key highlights include:

• Quality: Run automated penetration tests designed by top-tier security researchers—no outside consultants needed.
• Value: Meet buyer expectations without hiring expensive experts or waiting weeks for results.
• Convenience: Launch and complete tests directly within Vanta's platform—streamlining testing into your existing security and compliance workflows. Additionally, Vanta Plus and Growth plan customers will receive one pen test per year included in their subscription (coverage limits apply).

For more information on elements included in Vanta Plus and Growth plan customer subscriptions, visit https://www.vanta.com/pricing.

Vanta and XBOW will debut autonomous pen testing in closed preview at the end of August, with general availability to follow later this year.

“Security should be accessible without sacrificing rigor,” said Oege de Moor, CEO and founder, XBOW. “By bringing autonomous penetration testing into the Vanta platform, we’re giving startups the ability to meet the highest standards of security with speed and confidence.”

Securing Infrastructure, People and Tools—All in One Platform

The XBOW partnership builds upon Vanta’s broader mission: to help businesses earn and prove trust. Vanta’s platform includes:

• End-to-end user access management with centralized permissions, Slack-based access requests, and coming support for deprovisioning
• Personnel security training and onboarding workflows to help employees spot phishing, build securely with AI and stay compliant
• AI-powered vendor risk management to detect shadow IT and streamline security reviews

To further help startups build trust with customers, Vanta also offers a public Trust Center and AI-powered Questionnaire Automation—giving buyers real-time visibility into a company’s security posture.

With Vanta and XBOW, startups can now prove their security posture at any time—accelerating deals, satisfying buyers and growing with confidence.

Meet with Vanta (booth #5424) and XBOW (booth #3257) at Black Hat 2025. To learn more about penetration testing with Vanta and XBOW, visit https://www.vanta.com/resources/security-capabilities-for-startups.

About Vanta

Vanta is the leading AI powered trust management platform that helps simplify and centralize security for organizations of all sizes. Over 12,000 companies including Atlassian, Duolingo, Icelandair, Ramp and Synthesia rely on Vanta to build, maintain and demonstrate their trust—all in a way that's real-time and transparent. Founded in 2018, Vanta has customers in 58 countries with offices in Dublin, London, New York, San Francisco and Sydney. For more information, visit www.vanta.com.

About XBOW

XBOW is an AI-powered penetration testing platform that scales offensive security in hours. Delivering human-level security testing at machine speed, XBOW helps organizations discover vulnerabilities before attackers can exploit them. #1 on HackerOne US leaderboard. Founded by GitHub Copilot creators, backed by Sequoia and Altimeter. For more information, visit www.xbow.com.