A data security startup that tracks what AI agents are allowed to touch inside corporate networks has landed a $150 million infusion led by Capital One Ventures, with a Capital One representative set to join its board. Sentra, which is co-headquartered in New York City and Tel Aviv, says the money will fund broader visibility into AI agents, copilots and models, along with tighter controls over the sensitive data those systems can reach.
According to a PR Newswire release, existing investors Bessemer Venture Partners, Zeev Ventures, Standard Investments, Munich Re Ventures and Key1 Capital also participated in the round alongside Capital One Ventures. The release describes the $150 million as a strategic capital investment, while SiliconANGLE reported it as a Series C round. SiliconANGLE also reported that Sentra's total funding since its 2021 launch now exceeds $250 million, though the company has not disclosed a valuation.
Sentra says the past year brought more than 300% year-over-year growth, a surge it attributes to enterprises racing to deploy AI agents without fully understanding what those agents can access. The company's pitch centers on a platform that finds and classifies data across cloud, SaaS, data warehouse, knowledge store and on-premises file share environments, then maps which assets are reachable by human users, AI agents and service accounts alike, according to SecurityWeek.
What the Platform Actually Does
Per SecurityWeek's reporting, Sentra's system enforces least-privilege policies, flags unusual access to sensitive data, and automates remediation by revoking access and blocking risk once it's detected. The platform also generates reports on agent-accessible data framed with business context, the outlet noted, and the company says it analyzes information where it already lives rather than moving it elsewhere. The PR Newswire release states plainly that the platform operates entirely inside a customer's environment, so sensitive data never leaves it.
Sentra co-founder and chief executive Yoav Regev framed the investment as a response to a structural problem: traditional perimeter security, he said, was not built for agents operating at machine speed, per SecurityWeek. Regev added that securing the data agents can reach allows organizations to deploy AI more quickly while staying in control, a balance the company is betting enterprises will pay to maintain.
An Industry Racing to Keep Up
Sentra isn't alone chasing this problem. TechCrunch reported that a scan of public Crunchbase and PitchBook profiles turned up at least two dozen companies now selling some form of AI agent security. Reco raised $55 million in a round that included AT&T's venture arm, Forestay and Quadrille Capital, bringing its total funding to $140 million, according to TechCrunch. Zenity closed a $125 million Series C led by Norwest in August, as reported by Tech Funding News, while Cyera's valuation reportedly quadrupled to $12 billion after a $600 million raise in June, the same outlet noted.
Consolidation is also picking up pace. TechCrunch separately reported that CrowdStrike plans to acquire Fiddler AI and Dreadnode to expand its monitoring and testing of AI models and agents, with The Wall Street Journal estimating the price tags at roughly $400 million and $95 million, respectively.
The Numbers Driving Investor Appetite
The urgency behind all this spending traces back to survey data showing how little visibility most companies actually have into their own AI deployments. A Cloud Security Alliance survey found that 82% of organizations had discovered previously unknown AI agents in their environments within the past year, and 65% reported at least one agent-related security incident. Among those incidents, 61% involved data exposure, 43% caused operational disruption and 35% led to financial losses, the survey found. Only 21% of respondents said they had formal processes in place to decommission agents once they were no longer needed.
A separate Cloud Security Alliance study found that 53% of organizations had experienced AI agents exceeding their intended permissions. SiliconANGLE reported that Sentra expects the number of agents operating inside large enterprises to climb steeply over the next several years, a forecast that underpins much of the company's expansion plan.
Where the Money Goes Next
Sentra says it will use the funding to expand its go-to-market organization, grow its brand and marketing teams, and scale field and channel programs, according to PR Newswire. The company also plans to enter new geographic regions, though neither the specific markets nor a timeline for that expansion has been disclosed. The release states the company will provide continuous least-privilege enforcement for all identities, along with data protection and rapid containment capabilities, as part of its broader platform roadmap.
Legal counsel on the deal included H-F & Co., Law Offices for Sentra and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz for Capital One Ventures, per the PR Newswire release. SecurityWeek reported that Sentra was founded in 2021, and SiliconANGLE identified its founding team as Regev alongside Asaf Kochan, Ron Reiter and Yair Cohen.
