Austin-based Polygraf AI, a secure and explainable AI solutions firm, has raised $9.5m in seed funding to accelerate its mission of bringing trust and clarity to enterprise AI.
The funding round was led by Allegis Capital, with participation from Alumni Ventures, DataPower VC, Domino Ventures, and previous investors. The fresh capital injection is set to support the company’s product expansion, research and development, and go-to-market strategies targeting the enterprise, defence, and intelligence sectors.
Polygraf AI develops Small Language Models (SLMs) designed to enhance AI security and transparency in sensitive environments. Unlike traditional large, cloud-trained language models, Polygraf’s on-premise SLMs are auditable, explainable, and operate locally—reducing risks associated with data exposure, deepfakes, and synthetic threats. Its technology provides a multidimensional security layer that safeguards data integrity and ensures reliability in AI-driven decisions and communications.
The newly raised funds will be used to scale Polygraf’s presence across industries where trust and data privacy are essential, including defence, financial services, insurance, and healthcare. The company aims to strengthen its product capabilities and continue advancing the adoption of explainable AI for mission-critical operations.
The funding announcement was made by Polygraf AI CEO and co-founder Yagub Rahimov at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco, addressing an audience of investors, entrepreneurs, and AI innovators. The timing underscores growing demand for secure AI models as enterprises confront new risks stemming from shadow AI use and synthetic data manipulation.
Allegis Capital managing director Spencer Tall said, “Polygraf is tackling one of the most consequential problems of the AI era—TRUST. Their Small Language Model architecture and on-prem AI approach represent a fundamental shift in how enterprises will deploy and govern AI. We’re proud to partner with the Polygraf AI team to help enterprises adopt AI with confidence and compliance.”
Over the past year, Polygraf AI has expanded rapidly across sectors where regulatory compliance and security are top priorities. Its locally deployed AI modules, capable of running with minimal compute power, have been recognised for their ability to detect deepfake fraud, mitigate insider threats, and deliver actionable intelligence in high-stakes settings.
Polygraf AI CEO Yagub Rahimov said, “The world is realizing that large, cloud-trained models come with large, unpredictable risks. At Polygraf, we are on a mission to eliminate those risks. We’re proving that you can have both intelligence and integrity—a private AI for sensitive missions that is small, local, explainable, and trustworthy. This funding enables us to double down on our vision to protect the world’s most critical operations, where failure simply isn’t an option.”
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