MCP Startup Runlayer Sues Rippling Over Alleged Trade Secret Theft

Runlayer, backed by $42M from Khosla Ventures and Felicis, sued Rippling on July 28, 2026, alleging trade secret theft, unfair competition, and breach of contract. The complaint claims Rippling used a year of engineering collaboration under a product trial and NDA to copy Runlayer's MCP gateway — software for connecting AI models to external tools — instead of licensing it. Rippling denies the charges and is launching its own gateway.