data² lands on Pepperdine’s 2026 Most Fundable Companies list

Data Squared USA, Inc. was named to Pepperdine Graziadio Business School’s 2026 Most Fundable Companies list, a nod to its investment readiness and patented reView decision intelligence platform. The recognition spotlights a growing market for AI systems that can produce defensible, traceable decisions in regulated industries and government.

Why it matters: - data² is being recognized as investors and enterprises look for AI tools that do more than generate answers. - The company’s pitch centers on a harder requirement: decisions that can be traced, defended and audited in regulated settings. - That matters in energy, financial services, supply chain, defense and intelligence, where an AI output without evidence can fail compliance or board scrutiny.

What happened: - Data Squared USA, Inc. was named to Pepperdine Graziadio Business School’s ninth annual Most Fundable Companies® List. - The list selected 14 companies from more than 2,100 applicants across all 50 states. - The recognition highlights data²’s investment readiness and its reView™ platform. - Pepperdine’s Most Fundable Companies® program recognized winners on September 23, 2026, at Pepperdine University’s Villa Graziadio Executive Center in Malibu, California.

The details: - data² built reView as a patented decision intelligence platform for regulated enterprises and government agencies. - reView connects to systems a customer already runs without requiring a rebuild. - The platform pulls in only the data needed for each decision. - Every answer includes a decision record with the evidence, rules applied, conflicts and confidence level, all traced back to the source. - reView is built on U.S. Patent 12,339,839. - data² describes reView as the only patented hallucination-resistant, explainable decision intelligence platform. - The platform runs in production at ATCO and other regulated energy companies. - reView also works with defense and intelligence agencies. - ATCO EdgeWorks includes reView as part of its deployable, sovereign edge infrastructure platform. - The Financial Intelligence solution has already been used with finance and audit teams and is aimed at financial services and supply chain use cases. - Enterprises can purchase reView through AWS Marketplace. - The company was founded by energy-industry veterans. - data² was founded in 2023 and is headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware, with offices in Calgary, Mexico City and Sydney. - The company’s website is data2.ai. - The company works with partners including AWS and ATCO EdgeWorks.

Between the lines: - The recognition suggests investors are rewarding AI products built for compliance-heavy environments, not just generic automation. - data² is positioning reView as infrastructure for AI adoption inside organizations that need provable decision-making, not just fast responses. - The company’s messaging reflects a shift from “Can AI answer?” to “Can AI defend its answer?” - Embedded reView is aimed at helping partners build the same defensibility into their own platforms.

What the award process looks at: - Applicants are evaluated on financial projections, market opportunity, competitive positioning, intellectual property and management strength. - Submissions are reviewed by investors, venture advisors and Pepperdine faculty. - Pepperdine says the program is designed to help founders understand the investor diligence process while recognizing promising companies seeking growth capital. - The program launched in 2018 as a free resource for entrepreneurs assessing readiness for private investment. - It uses a multi-phase assessment that generates objective, customized feedback and scoring for participants.

What's next: - data² will be profiled on Entrepreneur. - The company will also appear in the November/December print issue of Entrepreneur magazine. - Pepperdine has posted the full 2026 winners list at the full list of winners. - data² is continuing to expand reView across regulated industries and government use cases.

The bottom line: - data² is being rewarded for a specific AI thesis: enterprise systems need decisions that are explainable, traceable and defensible before they can scale.