Hadoop Co-Founder Launches Isotopes AI with $20M Seed Funding to Bridge Gap Between Data and Business Insights
The co-founder of Hadoop, the technology that sparked the big data revolution of the 2010s, is back with a new venture that aims to solve what he calls the industry’s most persistent problem. Arun Murthy, former chief technology officer at Scale AI, has emerged from stealth with Isotopes AI, a startup that has raised $20m in seed funding to build artificial-intelligence agents that bridge the gap between complex data infrastructure and the business managers who need insights from it.
Isotopes launched on Thursday with backing from NTTVC, led by Vab Goel. The company’s flagship product, an AI agent called Aidnn, allows business executives to query their company’s data using natural language, drawing information from enterprise software such as Salesforce, finance applications, and cloud storage systems. The technology is sophisticated enough that the startup has already applied for ten patents, according to Mr Murthy.
Isotopes launched on Thursday with backing from NTTVC, led by Vab Goel. The company’s flagship product, an AI agent called Aidnn, allows business executives to query their company’s data using natural language, drawing information from enterprise software such as Salesforce, finance applications, and cloud storage systems. The technology is sophisticated enough that the startup has already applied for ten patents, according to Mr Murthy.
This funding round signals a broader shift in enterprise software, where artificial intelligence is being deployed to democratise access to complex business data. The $20m seed round—substantial for an early-stage company—reflects investor confidence that AI agents represent the next evolution in business intelligence tools.
The timing appears deliberate. Mr Murthy recalls his frustration during his tenure at Cloudera, where executives on quarterly earnings calls with Wall Street analysts often could not answer questions about operational details because they lacked access to the relevant data. This disconnect between data and decision-makers has persisted despite decades of investment in business intelligence platforms.
What sets Isotopes apart from the crowded field of AI-powered analytics tools is the team’s deep understanding of enterprise data architecture. The agent can locate data across disparate systems, clean it, and maintain contextual memory for complex, multi-step analytical tasks. This technical sophistication suggests the company is targeting enterprise clients with complex data environments rather than smaller businesses seeking simple analytics.
