H2O.ai and CAN.B Group Partner to Advance Sovereign AI in Australia

Partnership brings H2O.ai’s enterprise AI platform into the AUSOVRN® sovereign capability ecosystem to support secure, governed AI adoption across government and regulated industries

CANBERRA, Australia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--H2O.ai, the sovereign enterprise AI platform for predictive, generative and agentic AI, with built-in observability and governance, today announced a strategic partnership with CAN.B Group, an Australian-owned technology and advisory company, to help government agencies, critical infrastructure operators and highly regulated organisations design, deploy and govern AI within Australian sovereign, regulatory and mission requirements.

The partnership combines H2O.ai’s world-class enterprise AI platform with CAN.B Group’s sovereign architecture, governance, assurance and mission delivery capabilities.

Through AUSOVRN®, CAN.B Group’s mission-built sovereign capability ecosystem, Australian organisations will be able to access H2O.ai as part of coordinated, mission-aligned solutions designed to preserve visibility, portability, control and freedom of action.

As Australia increases its focus on secure and responsible AI adoption, organizations face growing pressure to translate policy, strategy and individual use cases into governed operational capability. Together, H2O.ai and CAN.B Group will provide customers with a practical pathway from use-case identification and solution design to secure deployment, model governance, operational adoption and ongoing capability development.

"Australian government and critical infrastructure buyers don't just want AI, they want sovereign AI they can prove is compliant and under their control before it touches a live system," said Jamie Lim, Vice President of Partnerships, APAC, at H2O.ai. "That's what AUSOVRN gives them, and why H2O.ai belongs inside it."

The partnership will initially focus on the Australian market, with particular relevance to federal, state, territory and local government, as well as defence, national security, law enforcement, critical infrastructure, financial services, insurance, health and other data-sensitive industries.

Areas of collaboration will include:

• Governed enterprise AI adoption and model lifecycle management
• Secure generative AI assistants and agentic workflows
• Decision intelligence, predictive analytics and operational forecasting
• Fraud, risk, anomaly and threat detection
• Sovereign AI deployments across on-premises, sovereign cloud and air-gapped environments
• AI governance, explainability, auditability and assurance
• Mission-critical automation, case management and service delivery
• AI capability development, adoption and operating-model design

“H2O.ai brings the enterprise-grade AI capability required to support complex and highly regulated environments. Through AUSOVRN®, we can integrate that capability into a sovereign operating model that gives customers greater control, flexibility and confidence as their missions and technology requirements evolve,” said Alex McNamara, Managing Director and Co-Founder at CanB.

CAN.B Group is the architect and operator of AUSOVRN®, a sovereign capability ecosystem that coordinates trusted Australian and global partners across artificial intelligence, cloud, cyber security, data, infrastructure, identity, governance, assurance, workforce capability and mission delivery.

Operating as the National Coordination Layer, CAN.B Group provides the sovereign architecture, governance, commercial coordination, assurance and repeatable delivery methods required to translate complex policy and operational requirements into measurable outcomes.

CAN.B Group’s appointment to the Australian Government’s Digital Marketplace Panel 2 also provides government buyers with an established procurement pathway to access CAN.B Group-led services and H2O.ai capabilities as part of broader AUSOVRN® solutions.

Together, H2O.ai and CAN.B Group will help customers address barriers to enterprise AI adoption, including security and privacy requirements, fragmented technology environments, governance uncertainty, regulatory obligations, procurement complexity, limited internal capability and dependency on proprietary platforms or individual providers.

The partnership reflects a shared commitment to strengthening Australia’s long-term AI capability and helping organisations deploy trusted, governed and mission-ready AI at scale.

About H2O.ai

H2O.ai is on a mission to democratize AI for Good. As the world’s leading agentic AI company, H2O.ai converges Generative and Predictive AI to help enterprises and public sector agencies develop purpose-built Agents, SLMs, and solutions on their private data. With a focus on secure, compliant, and infrastructure-flexible Sovereign AI deployments, H2O.ai delivers solutions that align with the highest standards of data privacy and control.

Its open-source technology is trusted by over 20,000 organizations worldwide, including more than half of the Fortune 500. H2O.ai powers AI transformation for companies like AT&T, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Workday, Progressive Insurance, and NIH.

Through its AI for Good program, H2O.ai supports nonprofits, public sector agencies, and global institutions in advancing healthcare, education, disaster response, and environmental sustainability using agentic and predictive AI.

H2O.ai has raised $256 million from investors, including Commonwealth Bank, NVIDIA, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, Capital One, Nexus Ventures, and New York Life.

For more information, visit www.h2o.ai.

About CAN.B Group

CAN.B Group is an Australian-owned technology and advisory company focused on building sovereign, mission-ready capability for government, critical infrastructure and highly regulated industries.

CAN.B Group is the architect and operator of AUSOVRN®, a mission-built sovereign capability ecosystem that coordinates trusted Australian and global partners across artificial intelligence, cloud, cyber security, data, infrastructure, identity, governance, assurance, workforce capability and mission delivery.

Operating as the National Coordination Layer, CAN.B Group provides the sovereign architecture, governance, commercial coordination, assurance and repeatable delivery methods required to translate complex policy and operational requirements into measurable outcomes.

AUSOVRN® enables organisations to access world-class technology while retaining visibility, control, portability and freedom of action as their missions, risks and technology requirements evolve.

For more information, visit www.canb.com.au.