# Balaji Ganesan

> Balaji Ganesan is Co-Founder and CEO of Privacera (now Trust3 AI), the data security and AI governance platform built on top of Apache Ranger technology he co-created. A survivor of the Miracle on the Hudson, he co-founded XA Secure in 2013, which was acquired by Hortonworks and open-sourced as Apache Ranger — now deployed across thousands of enterprises globally. He launched Privacera in 2016 to extend that governance vision to multi-cloud environments, raised $67.3M in total funding, and counts Nike, Intuit, and Autodesk among his customers.

- **Role:** Co-Founder and CEO at Privacera / Trust3 AI
- **Organizations:** Privacera, Trust3 AI, XA Secure, Apache Ranger PMC, Hortonworks, IBM Global Business Services, Infosys, Skillnet Solutions
- **Nationality:** Indian-American
- **Education:** Post Graduate Diploma in Management (PGDM) - Marketing, Finance & Strategy, Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow, B.Tech - Textile Chemistry, Maharshi Dayanand University
- **Known for:** Co-created Apache Ranger, now deployed across thousands of enterprises globally managing petabytes of data, Raised $67.3M in total venture funding for Privacera across 3 rounds, Built Fortune 500 customer base including Nike, Intuit, and Autodesk

## Career timeline

- **2002** — Assistant Manager at Shaw Wallace & Co.
- **2003** — Lead Functional Consultant at Infosys Technologies Ltd.
- **2006** — Managing Consultant at IBM Global Business Services
- **2008** — Joined Skillnet Solutions Inc.
- **2009** — Survived US Airways Flight 1549 'Miracle on the Hudson' emergency water landing
- **2013** — Co-founded XA Secure with Don Bosco Durai to build enterprise data access control for Hadoop
- **2014** — XA Secure acquired by Hortonworks; 440,000-line codebase donated to Apache Software Foundation as Apache Ranger
- **2014** — Became Senior Director of Enterprise Security Strategy at Hortonworks
- **2016** — Co-founded Privacera with Don Bosco Durai to extend governance to multi-cloud environments
- **2020** — Secured $13.5M Series A funding; Privacera achieved 300% YoY revenue growth
- **2021** — Raised $50M Series B; launched PrivaceraCloud, the industry's first SaaS-based data security governance platform
- **2023** — Achieved AWS Data & Analytics Competency Status; recognized in GigaOM Data Governance Radar
- **2024** — Launched Privacera AI Governance (PAIG), one of the industry's first AI data security governance solutions
- **2025** — Introduced Trust3 AI as the unified agentic AI governance platform layer for enterprises

## Achievements

- Co-created Apache Ranger, now deployed across thousands of enterprises globally managing petabytes of data
- Raised $67.3M in total venture funding for Privacera across 3 rounds
- Built Fortune 500 customer base including Nike, Intuit, and Autodesk
- First SaaS-based data security and governance platform (PrivaceraCloud, 2021)
- Apache Ranger committer and Project Management Committee (PMC) member
- Co-authored Apache Atlas metadata and classification tool at Hortonworks
- Grew Privacera to 120+ employees with $38.5M in annual revenue
- Launched Trust3 AI as the industry's first unified agentic governance platform

## Latest updates

- **2025-04** — Introduced Trust3 AI, described as the industry's first unified agentic governance platform for enterprise AI
- **2024-01** — Launched Privacera AI Governance (PAIG), one of the industry's first AI data security governance solutions
- **2023-06** — Privacera achieved AWS Data & Analytics Competency Status
- **2021-03** — Raised $50M Series B funding and launched PrivaceraCloud SaaS platform

## Links

- Website: https://privacera.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/balajiganesan03
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/balaji_blog
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/privacera/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/balaji-ganesan
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-05-27