idler raises $9M in Seed funding led by Paradigm to expand its machine learning research and scale infrastructure.
Amount Raised
$9 Million
Round Type
Seed
San FranciscoSoftwareArtificial IntelligenceCyber SecurityMachine LearningInvestors
Description
idler, a San Francisco-based frontier data research lab, raised $9M in seed funding. The round was led by Paradigm, with participation from Y Combinator and several angel investors. The company will use the capital to enhance its research team and accelerate the development of AI evaluation datasets. Additionally, idler launched ShelfLife, a benchmark for testing autonomous financial agents.
Quick answer
idler raised $9 Million in a Seed round, dated August 21, 2026. Investors: Y Combinator, Manish Chandra, Catheryn Li, Dan Posch, Janine Leger, Lynett Capital, Feross Aboukhadijeh and Nur Bazylbekov. idler is based in San Francisco, California, United States.
- How much did idler raise?
- idler raised $9 Million in a Seed round on August 21, 2026.
- Who invested in idler?
- Y Combinator, Manish Chandra, Catheryn Li, Dan Posch, Janine Leger, Lynett Capital, Feross Aboukhadijeh and Nur Bazylbekov are named as investors in this round.
- What does idler do?
- idler is a frontier data research lab and artificial intelligence evaluation platform based in San Francisco, CA.
- Where is idler based and how big is it?
- idler is based in San Francisco, California, United States. Fundz records about 14 employees.
- Who are the decision-makers at idler?
- Fundz holds 2 contacts at idler, including the Founder. Names and contact details are shown to Fundz members.
Source: Fundz verified event record.
Who else raised in Cyber Security and Software around the same time
Companies in the same sectors as idler that raised within 45 days of this round, from Fundz verified event records.
- IPercept raised $17M (Series A) on September 29, 2026.
- MIND Security raised $72M (Series B) on September 17, 2026.
- Bynario raised $2.4M (Pre-Seed) on September 10, 2026.
- Aslan Protects raised $21M (Seed) on September 2, 2026.
- Prevalent AI raised $22M on August 19, 2026.
- Kyvvu raised $1.2M (Pre-Seed) on August 19, 2026.
Who to call at idler, and when
A new round usually means idler is about to hire and buy. The teams that reach out first get the meeting.
- An alert the day idler raises, hires an executive or expands, scored against what you sell
- The decision-makers there, with verified emails
- Who you already know at idler, from your own LinkedIn network
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Related People
idler raised. Fundz records a round at a median of 3.6 minutes from the SEC filing, with the decision-maker attached.
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