This startup builds real-time guardrails for AI agents

This article is a part of Startup Spotlight, a series that features young, up-and-coming startups.

Photo credit: Dr. Brindha Priyadarshini Jeyaraman

While leading AI governance at a major bank, Dr. Brindha Priyadarshini Jeyaraman noticed a disconnect between compliance and engineering. Governance teams relied on static documents to manage risk while engineers deployed autonomous systems capable of making split-second decisions.

She launched Aethryx to bridge this gap by translating corporate policies into executable AI safeguards.

😟 Problem

IBM found that one in five surveyed organizations had experienced a security breach involving unauthorized AI, while only 37% had controls to detect or manage such incidents.

Standardized responsible-AI evaluations remain uncommon despite widespread enterprise adoption. Current governance methods cannot control autonomous systems in real time or produce reliable evidence for auditors.

A single AI error at a regulated enterprise can cause severe financial damage. Regulators in regions like Europe and Singapore are actively shifting from guidance to strict enforcement.

💡 Solution

Aethryx provides a governance control layer that sits directly between enterprise AI systems and the actions they perform.

• Assesses risk in real time when an AI agent attempts to process payments or share data.
• Blocks unauthorized actions, removes sensitive information, or requires human approval before proceeding.
• Translates company policies into enforceable controls and generates evidence for compliance audits.

Image credit: Aethryx

📊 Market size

Aethryx is initially targeting regulated enterprises deploying AI across Singapore and Southeast Asia. The company estimates an initial reachable market of 300 customers.

At an estimated lifetime value of S$300,000 (US$236,220) per customer, this creates a S$90 million (US$ 70.87 million) serviceable opportunity.

Expanding across Asia-Pacific would bring the potential customer base to 2,000 enterprises, representing a potential S$600 million (US$472.44 million) opportunity based on the same lifetime value.

🤝 Team

🚀 Traction

🏆 Competition

💰 Financials

🚩 Risks