Runlayer sues Rippling, alleges theft of AI security trade secrets
Runlayer, a New York AI security startup backed by Vinod Khosla, is suing Silicon Valley's Rippling for allegedly stealing its trade secrets.
The lawsuit, filed July 28, 2026, claims that while the two companies were partners for nearly a year, Rippling took confidential information to build a rival platform.
Talks to keep working together apparently fell apart when Rippling wouldn't pay fair rates and was instead already 'secretly building' what Runlayer calls a 'clone' of its product during the partnership extension talks.
Runlayer seeks damages and preliminary injunction
Runlayer says an insider at Rippling tipped it off about the copycat project last month.
The lawsuit points to job listings tied to their tech and even a leaked screenshot of Rippling's new platform that supposedly uses Runlayer's proprietary tools.
Now, Runlayer wants damages and for the court to issue a preliminary injunction blocking Rippling from developing or selling a product designed with its trade secrets.
So far, no public response from Rippling, even though they got $3.4 million in New York tax credits last year for adding jobs.