About Certiv

The workforce is changing. Security must change with it.

AI agents are the most powerful productivity multiplier in a generation. But unlike employees, they don't pause to ask, "Should I?" They can break security rules, expose sensitive data, and violate compliance , not out of malice, but because they're relentlessly optimizing for the objective they're given.

Most organizations face a false choice: block agents and fall behind, or enable them and accept unquantified risk. Neither is acceptable.

Certiv eliminates that tradeoff. We enable teams to accelerate with AI agents, govern their work according to organizational policy, and secure every action to protect the business.

Our Mission

To Enable and Secure the Future of AI Work

What is AI Work? It's your people, their AI models, agents, tools, data, and the workflows that drive your business. We want to be a part of unlocking your future of 100x productivity.

Our Founding Story

We've spent our careers building security and control systems at massive scale, from graph-based detection models to control planes governing real production infrastructure.

We helped move AI from experimentation into enterprise deployment, leading autonomous remediation and agentic workflows long before they became mainstream.

The lesson that repeated across every chapter: autonomy doesn't fail because it lacks capability. It fails because organizations lack control and trust.

Now it's happening again, only faster, with broader access, deeper data exposure, and immediate impact.

We started Certiv, from the Latin certius, meaning "to be certain", because we believe the right security should accelerate AI adoption, not slow it down. We're here to bring certainty to autonomous work and help you move fast and stay safe.

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Jason Needham

CEO & Co-Founder

Multiple-time founder, two successful exits (Apple, VMware), and two decades leading product and go-to-market for enterprise security and cloud infrastructure.

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Paul Allen

CTO & Co-Founder

Founded CloudCoreo (acquired by VMware), Distinguished Engineer at VMware and Broadcom, and 20+ years designing systems from silicon to cloud to autonomous AI.

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Dan Morris

Chief AI Officer & Co-Founder

Published researcher who built early agentic AI systems at Microsoft Research and Azure, founding engineer at Pioneer Square Labs, and creator of CovidWA, a civic platform used by millions during the pandemic.

Investors

Certiv is backed by experienced early-stage investors and industry veterans who understand what it takes to build great solutions and companies.

Aviso Ventures Aviso Ventures Founders' Co-op Founders' Co-op Fortson VC

Plus a group of private investors and industry veterans actively operating in this space.

Interested in joining us?

We're building something meaningful and looking for people who want to do the same. Reach out; we'd love to hear from you.

Get in Touch
FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Expand to view common questions.

Who founded Certiv and what is their background?
Certiv was founded by Jason Needham (CEO), Paul Allen (CTO), and Dan Morris (Chief AI Officer). Together they bring decades of experience from F5 Networks, VMware, Broadcom, Apple, and Microsoft, spanning networking, security, cloud infrastructure, and applied AI research. They previously built autonomous remediation systems at VMware and experienced firsthand the governance challenges of AI-driven automation.
What problem is Certiv solving for enterprises?
Enterprises face a binary choice with AI agents: block them and fall behind, or enable them and accept unquantified risk. Certiv breaks that tradeoff by providing runtime assurance, giving organizations the visibility, governance, and security controls needed to adopt AI agents confidently while protecting sensitive data, enforcing compliance, and preventing unauthorized actions.
What does the name Certiv mean?
The name Certiv comes from "Certius," the Latin word for certainty. It reflects the company's core mission: AI agents can only reach their potential when organizations trust the work being done on their behalf. Certiv provides that certainty through runtime visibility, policy enforcement, and continuous assurance.