Gitar, a San Mateo-based startup specializing in AI-driven code security, has emerged from stealth mode following a $9 million funding round led by Venrock, with participation from Sierra Ventures. Founded by Ali-Reza Adl-Tabatabai, a veteran of Intel Labs, Google, and Uber, the company aims to solve the growing issue of code overload generated by the rise of AI coding tools. As organizations increasingly rely on AI agents to write code, they face a surge of bugs and quality issues that often require senior engineers to fix before software can be released. Gitar addresses this challenge by using AI not to generate code, but to validate it. The two-year-old company offers a subscription platform that deploys AI agents to manage code quality, perform automated code reviews, and oversee continuous integration workflows. These workflows are essential automated processes that regularly merge and test code changes to maintain stability. Additionally, the platform enables engineering teams to build their own custom agents to handle specific security and maintenance tasks. According to Adl-Tabatabai, the company distinguishes itself by focusing entirely on the validation phase that occurs after code generation, rather than competing in the crowded market of AI code creators. He explains that while generation produces code, validation ensures it is trustworthy. Gitar orchestrates the entire process, from reviews and tests to diagnostics, acting as a workflow agent that makes software ready for production. Adl-Tabatabai envisions a future where human involvement in code reviews becomes minimal. Currently, human oversight is a standard step to prevent bad code from reaching users, but Gitar aims to automate this trust. The company claims its validation agents can ensure code safety automatically, reserving human intervention only for exceptional cases. The goal is to allow companies to ship software faster by trusting the platform to handle routine quality assurance tasks. The new capital will be used to expand Gitar's engineering and product teams while scaling the systems required to deliver services to a growing number of customers. With the increasing volume of AI-generated code, the demand for automated validation tools is expected to rise. By automating the critical steps of code review and testing, Gitar seeks to alleviate the burden on development teams and ensure that the rapid pace of AI coding does not compromise software reliability. The startup positions itself as a necessary evolution in software development, shifting the focus from how code is written to how it is verified for enterprise readiness.