Bengaluru-based AI-native data security company Matters.AI has secured ₹55 crore (approximately $6.2 million) in total funding to pioneer a new category of enterprise defense it calls the 'AI Security Engineer'.[1][2][3] The funding consists of a recent ₹42 crore ($4.7 million) seed round co-led by venture capital firms Kalaari Capital and Endiya Partners, with participation from existing backers Better Capital, Carya Venture Partners, and several cybersecurity-focused angel investors.[4][1][5] This follows an earlier ₹13 crore ($1.5 million) pre-seed round led by Better Capital and Carya Venture Partners.[4][1][6] The significant capital infusion is earmarked for accelerating research and development in predictive threat detection, expanding go-to-market operations in both India and the United States, and scaling its engineering and customer success teams.[1][2][7] The company is placing a particular focus on serving highly regulated industries, especially in light of India's new Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act.[2][3]

Founded in 2023 by Keshava Murthy and Harsh Sahu, Matters.AI is on a mission to address a fundamental flaw in the current cybersecurity paradigm: an overwhelming flood of alerts from disparate systems that often obscures genuine threats.[4][6] "The world doesn’t need another dashboard screaming alerts; it needs a system that can think," stated Keshava Murthy, the company's co-founder and CEO.[3][6] He envisions the AI Security Engineer as an intelligent, autonomous system that "never sleeps."[3][6] The core problem Matters.AI tackles is the widespread lack of visibility into enterprise data, with some estimates suggesting that over 90% of sensitive data remains invisible to security teams.[3][8] This challenge is compounded by the increasing complexity of modern IT environments, which span across clouds, SaaS applications, endpoints, and on-premises systems.[4][5] Traditional security tools often operate in silos, creating a fragmented view that makes it difficult for security professionals to distinguish between noise and actual threats, leading to fatigue and delayed responses.[5] Matters.AI aims to replace this chaos with clarity, providing a single, unified system to see, understand, and protect data proactively.[5]

The flagship product, the AI Security Engineer, is designed to be a self-learning system that moves beyond reactive monitoring to predictive and autonomous defense.[9][3] It integrates functionalities that are typically handled by separate tools, such as Data Security Posture Management (DSPM), Data Loss Prevention (DLP), insider risk detection, and exfiltration defense, into a single intelligent layer.[1][7][8] According to CTO and co-founder Harsh Sahu, the system "reasons' like a human engineer," learning from the interactions between people and data to predict potential misuse and respond autonomously in real-time.[3][6] The platform uses sophisticated technologies like semantic graph intelligence and predictive modeling to understand the context and intent behind data interactions, rather than just flagging anomalies.[9][2] Key technical features include endpoint visibility through eBPF tracing, real-time data tracing and fingerprinting for data lineage, and governance for generative AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot.[4][9][7] This allows the system to not just identify what the data is, but to understand its meaning, who is interacting with it, and why, thereby stopping threats before they escalate into full-blown incidents.[6][7]

The substantial backing from prominent investors underscores the perceived urgency and market need for a more intelligent approach to data security.[9][10] Sateesh Andra, Managing Director at Endiya Partners, highlighted that the platform addresses the critical gap between visibility and enforcement for security teams.[11][3][6] He noted that Matters.AI unifies discovery, lineage, and intent-aware controls, enabling organizations to prevent data exfiltration while significantly reducing alert noise.[11][3] Similarly, Sampath P, a Partner at Kalaari Capital, emphasized the growing need for autonomous data protection as privacy regulations tighten globally and AI adoption accelerates.[11][9][5] He sees Matters.AI as building the essential "control layer for this new reality," a system that can learn and adapt to ensure continuous compliance in a world increasingly driven by AI.[11][5] The funding will fuel the company's plans for a significant US expansion and further development of its predictive defense capabilities.[11][9] With a client list that reportedly includes companies like Groww and Nokia, Matters.AI is positioning itself to compete with established global players such as Cyera and Palo Alto Networks.[4][1][7]

In conclusion, Matters.AI's successful funding round signals a significant move towards a new frontier in cybersecurity, one where autonomous, predictive AI systems take center stage. By developing a self-learning "AI Security Engineer," the company aims to fundamentally shift the industry from a reactive, alert-driven model to a proactive, context-aware defense posture. The fresh capital will allow Matters.AI to enhance its technology, expand its global footprint, and address the pressing data security challenges faced by modern enterprises in an increasingly complex and regulated digital landscape. The company's vision of an AI that thinks and acts like a security expert reflects a broader trend in the technology industry, where intelligent automation is seen as the key to managing the scale and sophistication of emerging digital risks.