Appknox, a mobile security company based in Singapore, has raised S$875,000 in a Pre-Series A round led by SeedPlus, a new seed stage VC firm backed by Jungle Ventures, Infocomm Investments, Accel Partners, and RNT Associates. With the newly infused capital, Appknox has launched its cloud-based mobile security solution for businesses in Southeast Asia. Appknox is also an alumni of JFDI Asia and Microsoft Accelerator in Bangalore, India.
Announcing the same, Harshit Agarwal, Co-Founder and CEO, Appknox said, “South East Asia is one of the fastest growing regions in the world in terms of internet economy. Research by Google and Temasek shows that the digital economy will grow to around $200 billion by 2025. With the growth of e-commerce and digital payments, security will be the most important pillar of support. With the Governments of Singapore and Malaysia announcing their Smart Nation objectives, now is the best time for businesses to start planning security on a regular basis.”
The Singapore-based company launched their solution last year, starting with India, and is currently working with some of the top e-commerce and payments businesses like Paytm, Times Internet, BigBasket, CitrusPay, and more. “Appknox helped us find some really interesting security loopholes and also helped us to fix it immediately,” said Hari Palappetty of BigBasket.
Appknox is known for it’s cutting edge technology that enables businesses to run security analysis on cloud-based emulation engines without having to share any source code. Users can just go ahead and point to the URL of any app on the app store and Appknox will provide results within a few minutes. Appknox is also the first in the industry to launch an automated dynamic emulation engine for the iOS platform allowing businesses to tackle challenges faced with analyzing iOS applications.
Seeing the growth of startups and high technology companies, Appknox is looking towards building a safe and secure mobile ecosystem for businesses and consumers in Southeast Asia. Within two weeks of launch in Singapore, Appknox is already working with companies like Redmart and HOOQ. “The Appknox team has a deep understanding of security standards in mobile platforms. They are efficient and responsive in addressing any security problems we have,” says Viet Nguyen of Redmart.
Speaking about his experience with Appknox, Dwi Sasongko Supriyadi, Head of Engineering of HOOQ said, “I like the detailed analysis along with code snippet that potentially leads to a problem. The turnaround time from app submission to report generation is quick which helps us to identify problem in our product and enables us to address it quickly.”
“We are always on the lookout for start-ups with cutting edge technology, promising ideas and a great founding team. Given the explosive growth in mobile apps and smartphone users globally, security will only be more important as the next billion smartphone users get online. Appknox is well poised to tap on this huge opportunity”, said Tiang Lim Foo, Operating Partner at SeedPlus, who will also be joining the company as a Board Director.
“This expansion reflects the inflection point in Appknox’s growth trajectory. In a mobile-first world where apps are becoming everything, Appknox is well positioned to solve a major problem for every business with an app. It’s a big, global app ecosystem and Appknox can make them more secure and therefore be embraced by their users widely”, said Ravi Narayan, Global Director, Microsoft Startup Growth Partners.
The high growth in mobile internet usage in Singapore and Southeast Asia have given birth to Smart Nation projects in the region but have also opened doors to greater cyber security risks. “The more digital technologies become embedded into the fabric of real life, you’ve got to take the necessary precautions,” said Vivian Balakrishnan, minister-in-charge of Singapore’s Smart Nation program. *
A report by Gartner suggest that by 2017, more than 75% of mobile apps will fail basic security checks. Appknox recently conducted a study of over 100,000 apps in Google Play Store and found more than 85% of them to be failing basic security checks. **
Ninety per cent of mobile apps in Singapore do not adequately declare what consumer data is collected or how it is used, potentially falling foul of Singapore's Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA). Mr Ken Chia, principal at law firm Baker & Mckenzie. Wong & Leow, said that excessive data collection may land organisations in hot water. "They may not realise the privacy implications of their actions and that they may be contravening the Act," he said.
Using the expertise and learnings Appknox has achieved by being on the board of OWASP and other western influenced security groups, they plan on creating a common support system contributing to a safe and secure business operating environment, supporting both government entities and businesses of all sizes.
