Announcing Our Investment in Troj.AI
For enterprises to be able to achieve the vision of our AI-powered future, they need to deploy applications and the underlying models confidently. Not only confident of the underlying performance and accuracy but also from a security perspective. Customers need to know the models will not inadvertently reveal PII or other sensitive information, that end users will not be able to prompt the models into toxic behavior, and that their models are safe from various current and emerging threat vectors from malicious actors. Further, they need to deploy these security solutions in a way that fits seamlessly into their existing IT infrastructure without compromising performance and reliability.
For the last few years, TrojAI founders James Stewart and Stephen Goddard have developed the leading enterprise AI security solutions to instill that confidence in their customers. Earlier today, the company announced that Flybridge and Flying Fish Ventures co-lead a financing, alongside Alteryx Ventures, to drive the company’s growth forward.
In our diligence on the investment opportunity, we heard customer success stories firsthand, including from a Fortune 50 financial services company where TrojAI protects hundreds of models and safeguards the AI usage of tens of thousands of employees. All in production, at scale, and without compromising performance. This validation not only caught our attention but is also one of the reasons that CB Insights named the company to the AI 100 list of the most promising artificial intelligence startups of 2024. A proven market-leading product targeting a critically important and large market opportunity was the first pillar of our investment thesis.
The second pillar of our investment thesis was that Lee Weiner joined the company as CEO as part of this financing. Lee is an accomplished leader in the cybersecurity market who has repeatedly delivered innovative solutions to enterprise customers. Most notably, for the last 11 years, Lee was a senior executive at Rapid7, leading products, engineering, and innovation as the company scaled from $40 million to over $750 million in revenue. As one of our friends at Rapid7 told us, Lee simply knows how to deliver for customers and is an exceptional leader.
We are thrilled to invest in the success the Founders of TrojAI have created and to see Lee and the entire team applying their expertise to the company’s continued growth and success.
