In 2017, about one-million Gmail users were sent a Google Doc invite by an ostensibly, trusted contact; however, it turned out to be a faulty invite giving hackers access to Gmail accounts. The need for email security at a business level is critical, and Red Sift is the serverless, data-driven platform that provides cybersecurity for businesses. Red Sift’s premiere products OnDMARC and OnINBOX work in tandem to protect businesses against phishing attacks by authenticating inbound and outbound emails. Businesses can easily deploy and set up these products and set security compliance. Red Sift’s versatile solutions are ideal for companies in the legal, government, marketing, and philanthropic sectors.
London TechWatch sat down with CEO and Cofounder Rahul Powar to learn more about how Red Sift democratises cybersecurity, the company’s expansion plans, and recent funding round, which brings the company’s total amount raised to $10.8M across four rounds.
Who were your investors and how much did you raise?
The $8.8M raise in September 2019 was our Series A, led by MMC Ventures, In-Q-Tel, White Star Capital and Oxford Capital.
Tell us about the product or service Red Sift offers.
Red Sift is a serverless, data-driven platform on which we are developing a range of cybersecurity solutions that tackle the biggest problems facing businesses today. With that in mind, our first products to market have focused on email security as phishing continues to be a persistent threat to companies’ money, data, and operational systems.
OnDMARC eradicates the threat of phishing attacks stemming from email impersonation, ensuring emails being sent from a specific domain address cannot be spoofed are in fact legitimate. It is complemented by OnINBOX which gives individuals a security expert inside every email through a simple, traffic light warning system at the top of every email telling them where their emails have come from and whether they can be trusted.
What inspired you to start Red Sift?
We have a history of working with big data and creating software to deliver effective data technologies to consumers. Before we started Red Sift, we saw how so many organisations were struggling to extract value and insight from the vast volumes of data being generated via emails, apps, sensors and other corporate software. We started to look at how we could democratise this data and help people harness it in a way that makes a real difference to their business. So we built the Red Sift platform in order to mine vital data and address one of the biggest technological challenges of our time, cybersecurity.
How is Red Sift different?
We wanted to move away from the conventional and pricey consultancy approach to cybersecurity and put the solution back into the hands of the data owners. We’ve used the Red Sift platform to create technology solutions that streamline and simplify the process of email authentication – churning through data to afford organisations the ability to quickly address phishing attacks and thwart the threat of data loss.
What market are you targeting and how big is it?
Our mission is to make this B2B technology available to everyone – any size organisation in any industry.
Who do you consider to be your primary competitors?
For OnDMARC, we’re looking at companies such as Agari, ValiMail, Dmarcian. With OnINBOX it would be the likes of Tessian, GreatHorn, Inky and IRONSCALES.
What’s your business model?
We operate a direct and channel sales model, providing solutions on a SaaS licensing subscription.
What was the funding process like?
We were fortunate enough to find investors who shared our view on the opportunity and the market early in the process. As a result, most of our time was spent in due diligence after we had accepted a term sheet. This was an exhaustive process but ultimately relatively smooth as we had started preparing for it well ahead of our fundraising.
What are the biggest challenges that you faced while raising capital?
That has to be how one creates the time and energy to dedicate to the process whilst continuing to manage and grow your business, so it remains attractive to those you’re looking to for investment. And it’s a team effort too, every person on your senior leadership team has to make themselves available for interviews, meetings and carve out time to prepare decks and financial models.
What factors about your business led your investors to write the check?
Our investors have been vocal about how our speed of development and agility led them to invest in Red Sift, along with our clear ability to demonstrably improve our clients’ cybersecurity posture.
What are the milestones you plan to achieve in the next six months?
We want to see our second product, OnINBOX, really gain traction in the market, we already have a number of early adopters but obviously want to see this revenue stream grow.
Secondly, we’re focusing on our US expansion. Our OnDMARC customer base has already led us there, we’re lucky to have almost 35% of our customer base in the US so it’s time we set up a dedicated Red Sift presence to serve them better.
Secondly, we’re focusing on our US expansion. Our OnDMARC customer base has already led us there, we’re lucky to have almost 35% of our customer base in the US so it’s time we set up a dedicated Red Sift presence to serve them better.
What advice can you offer companies in London that do not have a fresh injection of capital in the bank?
Search out those areas in your business where you can have the biggest impact on your core unit economics. This way the resources you do have go further. For example, how can you reduce your cost per lead? How can you reduce churn?
What is your favorite restaurant in London?
A Wong near Victoria. It’s elevating dim sum to a whole new level and its owner as an Andrew is so dedicated to the food he serves – he is usually working hard at the pass – day in, day out.
