Credal.ai, a Y Combinator-backed startup, has announced that it raised $4.8 million in a seed round led by Spark Capital. The company provides enterprises with a secure way to connect their internal data to text-generating, cloud-hosted AI models, enabling them to make more informed decisions.
Key Takeaway
Credal.ai raises $4.8 million in funding to provide enterprises with a secure platform to connect their internal data to AI models. The platform emphasizes compliance, security, and transparency, allowing organizations to control how AI is used within their operations. The company plans to expand its team and enhance the product to cover more data sources.
Focusing on Security and Compliance
Credal was founded by Jack Fischer and Ravin Thambapillai, who both have backgrounds in enterprise data security and AI from their previous work at Palantir. The founders recognized the need for an AI data platform that enterprises can trust. Their initial goal was to create a decision-making assistant that uses large language models (LLMs) to provide strategic advice. However, the project evolved into a broader tool to connect internal data sources to external LLMs.
Building AI-Powered Chatbots
With Credal’s platform, enterprises can build AI-powered chatbots for various use cases. For example, a company could create a bot that answers security questions about licensed software, utilizing the latest documentation. Credal acts as a “co-pilot” between users and third-party LLM providers like OpenAI or Anthropic, facilitating seamless integration with existing applications such as Slack.
Ensuring Compliance and Security
One aspect that sets Credal apart from other platforms is its strong emphasis on compliance and security. The platform automatically redacts, anonymizes, and provides warnings when sensitive data is about to be shared with external LLMs. Additionally, Credal offers detailed logs that show which data has been shared with which models.
Credal is registered under the Data Privacy Framework, the U.S.-EU agreement governing personal data transfer, which has enabled the company to secure contracts with regulated European enterprises. The platform also mirrors the permissions of the source systems it connects to, providing IT departments with visibility and control over how AI is used within their organizations.
Expanding and Improving the Platform
Since its launch, Credal has handled over a quarter of a million LLM calls and ingested approximately 100,000 corporate documents. The company currently has 11 customers, some of which have signed “six-figure” contracts. With the recently secured funding, Credal plans to expand its team and enhance the product by covering more data sources and enabling more sophisticated data retrieval.
