“Defense and Paramilitary Organisations use Innefu's Security Solutions”

Innefu Labs is a relatively younger company in the cyber security space in India. However, the company has won quite a few elite customers from Indian defense and CRPF for its multifactor authentication solutions. Innefu Labs is now gearing up to strengthen its footprint in India and is about to raise funds. Dataquest had a candid talk with the company co-founder Tarun Wig. Excerpts:

What's so innovative about Innefu Labs? How effective is your multifactor authentication solution?

Although there are many organizations in the country, providing Information Security services, but there are not many Indian companies working on developing niche security products. There was a huge gap in terms of developing quality information security products within the country. Innefu Labs has been focused on creating innovative cyber security solutions for securing critical IT Infrastructure. We felt that there is space for quality indigenous security products which will continue to grow since these products would offer lower costs and much better support compared to foreign products.

Innefu AuthShield integrates Multi factor of authentication (MFA) using a protocol decoding mechanism. The integration at the protocol level ensures that AuthShield can be integrated into even those applications which do not inherently provide support for MFA including SAP, Microsoft Exchange, Oracle Communication messaging servers, Database Queries, legacy applications etc. Major Government institutions such as the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and National Housing Bank (NHB) are also using the Innefu Labs' security solutions.

What sets Innefu Labs apart from its competition?
From the day one, Innefu Labs has developed a niche in the indigenous cyber security product. Although there are many established competitors in the market who are providing the Multi-Factor Authentication but their solutions are dependent on end point applications for integrations. Our unique solution can be seamlessly integrated with any ERP/ SAP, Microsoft Exchange, Oracle Communication messaging servers, Database Queries, legacy applications etc.

AuthShield Authentication security is a multifactor authentication technology that combines device mapping with multiple authentication form factors such as facial biometrics. From the research and development perspective, we are working on Artificial Intelligence to add on Vocal and Facial recognition.

Who are your customers? What are the challenges your customers face?
Recently, CRPF has requested 1500 AuthShield Tokens in the first phase and is expected to deploy it in different parts of the country. Some of the top Government institutions such as the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) and National Housing Bank (NHB) are already using the AuthShield Labs’ security solutions.

Innefu AuthShield is a very unique product which can be implemented in applications such as mail clients on smart phones / desktops, SAP, etc. This is a unique feature which is not available in any other authentication solution in the market. A lot of clients are not aware that such a solution exists and can be easily implemented in their architecture. As a result, we had to do a lot of Proof of Concepts and demonstrations to get the clients to understand the solution and figure how different and unique it is compared to their existing solutions.

Are you looking for funding? Or have you got any?
Innefu Labs has been a profitable venture so far. We haven’t taken any angel round of funding. We are in talks with three separate VCs for the fund-raising, and one of them has already done a valuation process. However, since the talks are yet to conclude, we would not like to name the investors.

What is your business roadmap with regards to the company?
In 2016 – 2017, we intend to cover the whole Indian market and target Asia Pacific, South East Asia, Sri-Lanka and Bangladesh as potential markets for the future. We believe our unique points give us a strong edge over other players in the authentication market and we should be able to treble our revenues in the coming year. Since we are already undergoing evaluation for series funding, we would like to reveal the expansion plans in detail later, once the evaluation is complete. In terms of R&D we are working on implementing authentication in embedded devices to cater the fast increasing IoT. Also, we are planning for major tie-ups in this financial year.