In today’s data-driven world, enterprises struggle with data blind spots and fragmented governance as their reliance on cloud architectures and AI pipelines grows. These gaps expose companies to security risks and regulatory challenges, especially with GDPR, DORA, and the EU AI Act.
“AI is forcing enterprises to truly understand their data and rethink who can be trusted with it. Governance and compliance can’t live at the edge anymore; they have to operate at the source. Qala gives teams clarity and control they’ve never had before,” said David Scott Turner, co-founder and CEO of Qala.
Swiss startup Qala, founded in 2024, has secured $2 million in pre-seed funding led by QBIT Capital and Haatch, with additional support from Backbone Ventures, ROI Ventures, and SICTIC angels. Qala’s source-level data visibility platform brings governance and compliance into the software development lifecycle, offering real-time insight and automated policy enforcement.
The funding will accelerate the company’s platform development, which promises to redefine how companies manage data governance, security, and compliance in the AI era.
Fixing a growing data blind spot
Qala was founded by David Scott Turner, Carl Strempel, and Bruno Soares, who previously co-founded Imburse Payments, a global payments platform acquired by a U.S. insurance software company. Their experience building secure and compliant systems inspired them to address the persistent challenge of reactive and siloed data governance.
The startup aims to “shift-left” compliance, embedding continuous, automated data governance directly at the source (within code, APIs, and data pipelines) to empower engineering and compliance teams with real-time clarity.
Qala leverages a “shift-left” approach with a platform that maps data flows and lineage in real time, classifies and labels sensitive data through AI, enforces policies automatically, and generates continuous audit trails.
Unlike traditional compliance tools, such as Collibra, Alation, and Immuta, that provide periodic snapshots, Qala embeds governance into the development pipeline for seamless, proactive oversight. The team’s deep expertise and focus on real-time source visibility distinguish it from competitors delivering surface-level dashboards, positioning Qala as a leader in securing AI-era data environments.
What’s next?
With fresh funding, Qala plans to accelerate development of AI-powered compliance and governance features, enhance integrations for complex enterprise environments, and expand beyond Switzerland into wider European markets.
The company aims to become the standard for continuous data governance in AI and cloud-native applications, addressing stringent data protection and regulatory demands globally.
