AI Governance & Security Vendor Wiki

3 min read

BigID

One-liner — A data-intelligence platform that uses ML to find and classify sensitive data at scale, then layers DSPM, DLP, data access governance, privacy, and AI governance on top of that inventory.

What it does — BigID started as a deep data-discovery and classification engine (built for privacy/GDPR-era “find all the PII” problems) and has expanded into a broad Data Security Platform: DSPM (posture/risk), DLP, data access governance (who can reach what), data privacy/compliance, and AI governance/AI security. Its differentiator has long been classification depth — correlation- and cluster-based ML discovery across structured and unstructured stores, on-prem and cloud — rather than regex/label rules alone. You buy it to build a defensible map of where sensitive data lives and to drive privacy, access, and now AI-readiness decisions off that map.

Where it sits in the stack — Primary: dspm; also dlp and data-access-governance. Data layer. Risk role: controlling access to sensitive data — knowing what/where the sensitive data is and constraining who/what can access it before it reaches a model or RAG index. Trust zones: green/yellow data governance.

Deployment & architecture — Flexible: SaaS, self-hosted, and on-prem/hybrid (a genuine differentiator for shops that won’t ship data to a vendor cloud). Modular/app-based platform with a marketplace of add-on apps. Connects to databases, data lakes, file shares, SaaS, and cloud object stores; integrates with DLP, IAM, and ticketing/SIEM. Heavier/more configurable than agentless cloud-native rivals.

Positioning & differentiators — Known for the broadest classification/discovery and for privacy/data-governance heritage, plus deployment flexibility (on-prem/hybrid). Versus cloud-native DSPM challengers cyera and sentra (fast, agentless, cloud-first), BigID is more of an enterprise data-governance platform that also does DSPM — stronger on unstructured + on-prem breadth and privacy/DSAR workflows, heavier to stand up. Versus microsoft-purview it spans far beyond the Microsoft estate. Versus concentric-ai it is broader but less “autonomous/no-config.” Microsoft Purview DSPM lists BigID as an integration partner.

Ownership, funding & M&A — Independent, privately held. Founded 2016 by Dimitri Sirota (CEO) and Nimrod Vax. HQ New York, with US + Israel offices. ~$320M raised to date at a $1B+ valuation; most recent a $60M growth round led by Riverwood Capital with Silver Lake Waterman and Advent participating. No acquisition; no seed M&A flag. Ownership confidence: medium (exact current cap table/valuation date not fully pinned here).

CTO / hedge-fund lens — Day-1 if you need a serious, auditable data inventory spanning on-prem + multi-cloud + unstructured, or if privacy/regulatory (data-subject) workflows matter. Its on-prem/self-hosted option suits funds unwilling to send data to a SaaS-only DSPM. SR 11-7: indirectly useful — clean data lineage/classification supports model-risk and AI-governance evidence. For a small cloud-only shop it may be heavier than needed; agentless cloud-native tools (cyera, sentra) stand up faster.

Competitors / alternatives — cyera, sentra, securiti, concentric-ai, microsoft-purview, Varonis, immuta, collibra.

Open questions / to verify

  • Exact current valuation and date of the latest round; total may have moved past ~$320M.
  • Depth of its AI-security/AI-governance module vs purpose-built AI-SPM tools.

Sources

History

  • [2026-06-28] Stub created from seed registry.
  • [2026-06-28] Researched; established independent (privately held, ~$320M raised, $1B+ valuation), founded 2016, NY HQ, broad DSPM/DLP/DAG/privacy platform with on-prem option. Added data-access-governance tag. No M&A.

Graph View

Backlinks