Protect AI vs TrojAI

Protect AI was a Seattle-based MLSecOps company founded in 2022 by Ian Swanson, Daryan Dehghanpisheh, and Badar Ahmed that built a comprehensive AI and ML security platform. The platform comprised three main products — Guardian (model scanning and supply-chain security), Recon (AI red teaming), and Layer (runtime monitoring) — operating on a unified platform. The company was backed by 17,000+ security researchers via its huntr community and partnered with Hugging Face on threat research. Protect AI was acquired by Palo Alto Networks on July 22, 2025 and its technology has been integrated into Prisma AIRS (AI Runtime Security), Palo Alto's comprehensive AI security platform. Prior to acquisition the company had raised $108.5M total ($14M seed in December 2022, $35M Series A in July 2023, $60M Series B in August 2024), all led by Evolution Equity Partners.

TrojAI is a Saint John, New Brunswick-based AI security company founded in 2019 by James Stewart and Stephen Goddard. The company provides an enterprise AI security platform with two core products: TrojAI Detect (pre-deployment model red teaming and vulnerability assessment) and TrojAI Defend (runtime AI firewall for AI applications and agents). In 2025, TrojAI extended Defend to cover MCP (Model Context Protocol) server governance, providing visibility and policy enforcement for agentic AI workflows. TrojAI serves primarily large enterprise customers in financial services and technology, helping them align with NIST, OWASP, MITRE ATLAS, and CSA frameworks. The company participated in Google's 2023 accelerator program for Canadian startups and was listed on the Vector Institute's '20 Canadian AI Startups to Watch.' TrojAI raised $5.75M in seed capital in April 2024 and maintains offices in Saint John, Fredericton, and Boston.