Nirmata raises $9.6 million to expand AI-driven cloud-native solutions

Nirmata, a cloud-native policy and governance solutions provider, has raised $9.6 million in a funding round led by Peak XV’s Surge (formerly Sequoia Capital India & SEA), with participation from Dallas Venture Capital, Dreamit Ventures, and existing investors Z5 Capital and Uncorrelated Ventures. Following strong customer growth, Nirmata plans to expand its presence in India, scale its go-to-market strategy, and accelerate product development. The aim is to be a hub of security automation, governance, and compliance for all applications and the underlying IT infrastructure from code to cloud.

 

“Nirmata is well positioned to address the growing need for robust security and governance in the rapidly evolving cloud-native ecosystem,” said Jim Bugwadia, co-founder and chief executive officer of Nirmata. “This funding highlights the strong market demand for our solutions and empowers us to scale our operations, helping more organisations strengthen the security and efficiency of their cloud-native environments.”

 

As AI-driven applications drive the surge in cloud-native technologies, businesses are rapidly adopting new solutions and building platform engineering teams. The proliferation of AI-generated code is also transforming software development by automating tasks and generating complex code at an unprecedented scale.

 

Nirmata said it is at the forefront, addressing these growing demands for Policy as Code to automate and scale security across complex cloud environments. Nirmata’s policy-driven automation tools, such as Nirmata Control Hub, help businesses simplify security and governance, enabling secure, efficient scaling in an increasingly dynamic landscape.

 

Nirmata has built top engineering and customer success teams in Pune and Bengaluru. This strategically positions it to leverage the country's rich pool of technology talent. The firm is operating in the rapidly expanding Kubernetes and security markets, which are expected to reach $12.3 billion by 2031 with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 26.3 per cent. Nirmata has seen success with Kyverno, driving a 10-fold growth in revenue from its security and governance solutions.

 

“The security of our software is at a pivotal moment, as the increasing complexity of cloud-native environments is overwhelming security and platform teams, leading to burnout and stifled innovation,” said Saqib Syed, Nirmata board member. “By automating security in delivery pipelines, organisations can maintain governance at speeds that prevent breaches before they even happen.”

 

Kyverno, the open-source policy engine for Kubernetes created by Nirmata, has surpassed 3.2 billion downloads, contributing to a 10-fold revenue growth for its security and governance products.