Robust Intelligence vs TrojAI

Robust Intelligence was a San Francisco-based AI security company co-founded in 2019 by Harvard computer science professor Yaron Singer and Kojin Oshiba. The company pioneered the concept of an 'AI Firewall' — a purpose-built platform that validates, stress-tests, and protects AI models from development through production. Key capabilities included algorithmic red teaming, automated model assessment, and proactive AI risk mitigation aligned to OWASP and MITRE ATLAS standards. Robust Intelligence was acquired by Cisco in October 2024 for a reported $400M and has been foundational to the development of Cisco AI Defense and Cisco Foundation AI. Its technology is now integrated into the Cisco Security Cloud, providing threat protection against prompt injection, data poisoning, jailbreaking, and unintentional model outcomes. The company raised $44M prior to acquisition across three rounds.

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.