Zenity targets Copilot governance

Zenity is pitching Microsoft 365 Copilot governance as a security product, selling enterprises extra controls over who can use Copilot, what it can reach and how its actions are logged. (zenity.io) On its Microsoft 365 Copilot page, Zenity says the platform profiles user and agent interactions, detects suspicious runtime activity, and applies guardrails to reduce data leakage, prompt injection and risky extensions built through Copilot Studio. (zenity.io) The company has been building toward this launch for more than a year. Zenity announced an “AI Trust Layer” for Microsoft 365 Copilot on Sept. 19, 2024, then said on May 22, 2025 that it had expanded its Copilot Studio integration with continuous visibility, vulnerability assessment and threat detection from build time to runtime. (prnewswire.com 1) (prnewswire.com 2) Microsoft has been adding its own admin controls as Copilot spreads across Microsoft 365. Microsoft’s release notes on April 21, 2026 said administrators can now centrally control access to AI video generation features, part of a broader rollout model that starts with subsets of users inside a tenant. (learn.microsoft.com) Microsoft’s Copilot Control System frames the same problem in enterprise terms: overshared files, sensitive data exposure, compliance and privacy risks, and the need to limit Copilot and agent access to only the users who need it. The documentation points customers to Microsoft Purview, SharePoint Advanced Management and Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps as the core governance stack. (learn.microsoft.com) That leaves room for third-party vendors that promise deeper monitoring and response. Zenity’s pitch is that Microsoft supplies foundational controls, while Zenity adds runtime observability, policy enforcement and automated remediation once agents are live and interacting with users and data. (prnewswire.com) (ignite.microsoft.com) The market has also attracted investor money tied to Microsoft’s ecosystem. Zenity said Microsoft’s venture arm M12 made a strategic investment on July 30, 2024, and the startup said on Oct. 29, 2024 that it raised a $38 million Series B, bringing total capital raised to more than $55 million. (zenity.io 1) (zenity.io 2) Zenity is not arguing that Copilot needs replacing. It is arguing that as Microsoft 365 Copilot moves from chat assistant to connected workplace agent, enterprises will pay for a second layer that can prove who had access, what happened and whether the system stayed inside policy. (learn.microsoft.com) (zenity.io)