DataBahn raises $17M to automate data pipeline management with AI agents

Intelligent data pipeline startup DataBahn LLC said today it has closed on a $17 million early-stage funding round.

The Series A round was led by Forgepoint Capital and saw participation from S3 Ventures and GTM Capital, bringing its total amount raised to date to $19 million.

The startup has developed a data pipeline platform based on autonomous artificial intelligence agents that set out to transform how enterprises manage and operationalize data pipeline telemetry. It’s designed to aid in security and observability, providing deeper context and control without the overheads of traditional agents. With DataBahn’s platform, organizations can seamlessly integrate, govern and optimize any data pipeline from its source to destination with one-click deployment and enterprise-grade controls.

DataBahn said its data management platform can be thought of as a unified control plane for enterprise data. Originally built to address challenges around cybersecurity and operational telemetry, it has since expanded into application and infrastructure observability to meet the demand for intelligent, end-to-end visibility throughout the modern data lifecycle.

Whereas traditional data streaming platforms simply move logs from one system to another, DataBahn goes further, deploying “Phantom” AI agents that collect telemetry without the need to deploy legacy software agents. They’re designed to parse and enrich data at scale while suppressing any misleading “noise,” ensuring companies can scale up without adding any bloat or increasing compute resource overheads.

DataBahn said its Phantom AI agents have the ability to route, reduce, redact, enrich and transform any kind of data as it’s being moved from one location to another. The main benefit they provide is that they reduce the amount of preparation needed to interpret data streams and events specifically related to security insights by automating tasks such as classification, integration and modeling.

The secret sauce is the Phantom agents’ federated search expertise, which delivers persona-based insights that go beyond traditional queries written in Structured Query Language. According to the startup, this allows the agents to detect security threats faster and more efficiently, while observability teams get better predictive analytics to help prevent security outages and business teams benefit from deeper visibility into application transactions.

DataBahn co-founder and Chief Executive Nanda Santhana said his company’s AI agents can be thought of as an “intelligent fabric” that adapts to govern and optimize data at large scale. Enterprises need this, he argued, because they’re not just being overwhelmed by data, but outpaced by its complexity.

“We’re building the foundation for a new era of observability where data is not just moved, but understood, enriched and made AI-ready in real time,” he said. “Our mission is to transform telemetry from a liability into a strategic asset by making data pipelines smarter, leaner and AI-ready from the start.”

The startup says its platform is already being used by a number of Fortune 50 and Global 2000 organizations, including the biopharmaceutical giant CSL Behring Ltd., helping them to reduce their telemetry costs by more than 50% and automate the bulk of their data engineering work, while increasing visibility into their observability and AI pipelines.

Forgepoint Capital Managing Director Ernie Bio, who has joined DataBahn’s board of directors, said he’s backing the startup because it’s solving an urgent challenge around how to manage and extract value from the fragmented and rapidly growing data streams that fuel today’s AI initiatives.

“What’s truly rare is the customer enthusiasm,” he said. “We heard consistent praise for the platform’s rapid ROI, forward-looking innovation and the team’s responsiveness – qualities that separate great companies from the rest.”

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