Cinder
YC W22New York City, US · Founded 2022 · 30 employees · Hiring · 7 known investors
Cinder provides trust and safety infrastructure that uses AI agents to detect and act on abuse, fraud, and policy-violating content such as CSAM, extremism, and adult material across online platforms. It offers a configurable moderation platform with policy-aligned agents, human-in-the-loop review, audit trails, and services like AI red teaming, data labeling, and managed operations for enterprise product and safety teams.
AI & Machine LearningCybersecurityEnterprise SoftwareSaaSB2BComplianceTrust & SafetyAIUnited States of AmericaAmerica / CanadaPartly Remote
Founders & leadership· Y Combinator alumni (W22)
Cinder was founded in 2022 by Glen Wise and Phil Brennan.
GW
Glen WiseinFounderGlen Wise graduated from Carnegie Mellon and worked as a security engineer at Meta (formerly Facebook) for over three years, where he helped build community threat intelligence infrastructure. He founded Cinder in 2021 to address trust and safety challenges for other organizations.30 Under 30 2024
PB
Phil BrennaninFounderPhil Brennan spent several years leading counterterrorism operations for the US government before joining Facebook in 2017, where he built out their community threat intelligence team. He later co-founded Cinder with Glen Wise, a former Facebook colleague.
Investors · 7
Also in the syndicate · 4
M12Microsoft's Venture FundNeuberger’s Outpost VenturesPSP Growth
Funding
SEC filings, press & company announcements$82M disclosed across 2 rounds · 2026
- $41MSeries BJun 2026Source ↗
- $41Mseries BMay 2026 · 2 sources
Radical Ventures (lead), Accel, M12, Microsoft's Venture Fund, Neuberger’s Outpost Ventures, Pioneer Fund, PSP Growth, Y Combinator
Source ↗
Source: company announcements and press reports — follow each round's link for the claim.
Founder mafia
2 people who came through Cinder went on to found or lead other companies.
Competitors · 7
by search overlap
TrueFoundry12 shared keywordsTrueFoundry provides a unified platform for deploying, governing, scaling, and tracing agentic AI and LLM workloads, including an AI gateway, model hosting, fine-tuning, and observability. It targets enterprise engineering and data science teams that need to run AI models across cloud, on-prem, or air-gapped infrastructure with security and compliance controls.
OpenAI12 shared keywordsOpenAI is an AI research and deployment company focused on developing artificial general intelligence (AGI) with emphasis on safety and beneficial outcomes for humanity.
LiteLLM11 shared keywordsLiteLLM provides an AI gateway that simplifies access to over 100 large language models through a unified OpenAI-compatible interface, with built-in features for fallbacks, spend tracking, and load balancing. The platform serves developers and engineering teams integrating multiple LLM providers into their applications.
Eesel10 shared keywordseesel AI builds AI "teammates" that connect to a company's tools and perform work tasks under human supervision, with autonomy increasing over time. The product targets support and enterprise teams and uses usage-based pricing tied to work completed.
DataCamp7 shared keywordsDataCamp is a learning platform for teams that teaches data and AI skills through hands-on coursework accessible via web browser and mobile app. It serves enterprise customers and development teams seeking to build technical capabilities.
Educative7 shared keywordsEducative offers online courses and learning paths in software development, machine learning, and technical interview preparation. The platform serves individuals seeking to develop in-demand technology skills.
Tech Policy Press7 shared keywordsTech Policy Press is a media outlet publishing analysis, perspectives, and podcasts on technology policy topics such as AI, platform regulation, election infrastructure, and digital services enforcement.
Companies competing with Cinder for the same Google search keywords, organic and paid, via search-intersection analysis.
In the news
Frequently asked questions
- What does Cinder do?
- Cinder provides trust and safety infrastructure that uses AI agents to detect and act on abuse, fraud, and policy-violating content such as CSAM, extremism, and adult material across online platforms. It offers a configurable moderation platform with policy-aligned agents, human-in-the-loop review, audit trails, and services like AI red teaming, data labeling, and managed operations for enterprise product and safety teams.
- Who founded Cinder?
- Cinder was founded by Glen Wise, Phil Brennan in 2022.
- Who are Cinder's investors?
- Cinder's investors include Accel, Radical Ventures, Y Combinator.
- How much funding has Cinder raised?
- Cinder has disclosed $82M raised across 2 rounds.
- Where is Cinder headquartered?
- Cinder is headquartered in New York City, US.