KOCHI: In this world where everything happens in cyberspace, security is a major concern. Though there are many companies that provide cyber-security solutions, not all provide an all-in-one solution. A startup from Kollam has filled this gap in the market, thereby carving a space for themselves in the process.
Founded in 2019 by Vaisakh T R and Lakshmi Das, Prophaze provides proactive and adaptive cybersecurity solutions that can effectively protect organizations and individuals from cyber threats.
How it all started
“During our efforts to address a specific container security use case for a German client, we identified an unmet need in the market. None of the major global players were catering to this particular niche. To fill this gap, we introduced Prophaze, which is the world’s first cloud-native web application firewall,” says Lakshmi Das, the COO and product evangelist of the company.
Prophaze has achieved notable recognition and accolades. “It secured the ‘Kerala Grand Challenge Award,’ which comes with a prize of `50 lakh, along with an innovation grant of `15 lakh. Our company was also honoured as the grand winner of DCIS and emerged as a finalist in the IDEX DISC 9 Challenge. Furthermore, the company received the ‘Most Innovative Product of the Year 2022’ award from AISS-DSCI. Notably, Prophaze’s security solution successfully defended three major airports and hospitals in India against a major DDoS attack this year, thereby safeguarding the critical infrastructure of the nation,” says Lakshmi.
But as to why they decided to start a cyber-security firm, Lakshmi says, “In India there are only very few cybersecurity product companies selling solutions of global acceptance. The world is now shifting
towards the cloud-native approach. Cloud-native applications will need cloud-native Security and we set up this company to bridge this market gap in the cybersecurity industry.”
The company brought out the world’s first Web Application Firewall completely built on Kubernetes Architecture. “This helped Prophaze to be listed as an innovation leader in The Kuppingercole Analyst report of 2022 along with International WAF players,” says Vaisakh T R, CEO and co-founder of Prophaze. “In the case of initial investment, we got associated with India Accelerator in 2021 and got our pre-seed and seed funding from IA Angels in 2021. This helped set up the business operations of Prophaze in Delhi,” Vaisakh adds.
Explaining the product, Lakshmi says, “Prophase is a cloud-native security solution that secures web applications from cyber attacks by using proprietary adaptive AI-ML algorithms, which integrate seamlessly with any platform. Prophaze was an early proponent of Kubernetes-driven SD WAF solutions which is its main USP.” In the case of the present investment stage, the company has been approached by venture capitalists for the next investment round of the Series-A funding stage. The startup’s revenue model follows a subscription model. “We work with partners in India and abroad,” says Lakshmi.
Expansion plans?
“We are planning to expand operations to the US where our board advisor is present. Our first customer from the US, too, has joined us to aid operations here,” she adds.
How many clients
The company has 40-plus customers globally. and include airports, governments, banks, hospitals and defence.
Since its introduction in 2019, Prophaze, Kollam startup’s cloud-native web application firewall, has filled an unmet need in the cyber-security space and has since onboarded clients that include airports, banks, and govts