Enterprises today operate across cloud applications, distributed workforces, multiple devices, and increasingly autonomous AI systems. Yet many still rely on fragmented security tools that protect networks, identities, applications, and data in isolation. Zaperon, co-founded by Sachin Aggarwal and Vineet Gupta, is building a unified, identity-centric cybersecurity platform designed for this changing enterprise environment. The company brings together Zero Trust Access, Identity and Access Management, Web Security, Data Loss Prevention, and AI Governance to help organisations secure human, machine, and AI identities.

A Partnership Built at Georgetown

Sachin and Vineet met while pursuing their MBA at Georgetown University, where they became good friends. After graduating, both had an entrepreneurial inclination and often discussed ideas around building something of their own. Around 2019, their conversations increasingly focused on cybersecurity. They saw that enterprises were becoming more dependent on cloud applications, distributed workforces, and digital infrastructure, while securing these environments was becoming increasingly complex. Organisations were relying on multiple, disconnected security products, making advanced cybersecurity difficult to implement and manage. “We saw an opportunity to simplify enterprise security through a unified, identity-centric approach.” That idea became the foundation of Zaperon. The company’s vision is to build a cybersecurity platform that makes enterprise security easier to adopt, manage, and scale, one that secures access to enterprise resources, protects sensitive data, and governs the use of AI. As the threat landscape and enterprise technology environments have evolved, so has Zaperon. Today, the company is building for the Agentic AI era, where security must extend beyond human users to machine and AI identities as well.

Why Zero Trust Matters?

When Sachin and Vineet began exploring the cybersecurity market, they observed two major challenges: the threat landscape was changing rapidly, and security solutions in the market were fragmented. Enterprises were investing in separate products to protect networks, applications, identities, data, and increasingly AI environments. However, these products often operated independently and lacked a common understanding of the user, device, application, and business context. Employees were accessing business applications from different locations and devices, organisations were moving workloads to the cloud, and the traditional corporate network perimeter was gradually disappearing. Yet many enterprises continued to depend on VPNs and perimeter-based security models. “Security needed to move from trusting a network or location to continuously evaluating the identity and context behind every access request.” This is the fundamental principle of Zero Trust. Zaperon saw an opportunity to bring access security, identity, web security, data protection, and AI security together on one platform. The company also developed PKI-based passwordless authentication to help enterprises reduce their dependence on passwords and address the risks associated with credential theft and compromise. The goal was to make advanced cybersecurity more accessible and practical for enterprises, without adding unnecessary complexity to their IT and security environments.

The Story Behind Zaperon

The name Zaperon combines the French word chaperone with the idea of Zero Trust Security. It represents the identity the founders wanted to build: a trusted companion to organisations, helping protect them as their digital environments evolve. “Security should enable business transformation, not become an obstacle to it.” That philosophy is reflected in Zaperon’s product approach. Rather than treating network access, identity, data, and AI security as separate problems, the company brings them together through a unified, identity-centric platform.

Building Trust in Cybersecurity

In cybersecurity, brand building is fundamentally about trust. Enterprises are not simply buying software; they are choosing a partner that will play an important role in protecting their applications, identities, and sensitive business information. Zaperon’s approach has been to build the company around product capabilities, customer requirements, and technical credibility, rather than relying only on marketing communication. The team spends considerable time understanding the security challenges faced by enterprise IT and security teams. It engages with technology leaders, demonstrates how the platform addresses specific problems, and works closely with customers during evaluation and implementation. The company also believes in building credibility through practical use cases. Rather than discussing Zero Trust only as a security philosophy, Zaperon demonstrates how organisations can reduce dependence on legacy VPN access, enforce device-aware access policies, monitor web traffic, and prevent sensitive information from leaving the organisation through endpoints, email, and web applications. As the AI landscape evolves, Zaperon is extending this approach to AI security helping organisations discover Shadow AI, understand how AI applications and agents interact with enterprise data, and enforce controls around those interactions. “Our objective is to establish Zaperon as a technology company that understands real enterprise security challenges and delivers solutions that organisations can deploy and scale with confidence.”

A Unified Alternative to Fragmented Security

Traditional cybersecurity solutions have largely been built around individual security functions. Organisations deploy separate products for VPN access, identity management, web security, data loss prevention, cloud application security, and secure usage of AI agents.

While each product addresses a specific requirement, managing these disconnected systems creates operational complexity and can leave security blind spots. Zaperon’s approach is different. The company is building a unified, identity-centric Secure Service Edge (SSE) platform that brings together:

• Zero Trust Access.
• Identity and Access Management.
• Web Security.
• Data Loss Prevention.
• AI Security.

The key differentiator is the context Zaperon brings into security decisions. Access and data-protection policies should not depend only on a user’s credentials or network location. They should also consider the user’s identity, device posture, application being accessed, data sensitivity, and the risk associated with the activity. Zaperon is also extending this identity-centric approach to AI. As organisations adopt public AI applications, private AI platforms, and autonomous agents, they need visibility and control over which identities and agents can access enterprise data and what they can do with it. “Our aim is to make Zero Trust practical to implement and manage through one integrated platform, rather than another collection of disconnected security tools.”

Seed Funding and Next Phase of Growth

Zaperon has raised over $750,000 in seed funding, giving the company an opportunity to accelerate its next phase of growth. The funding will support:

• Strengthening the platform.
• Expanding AI security capabilities.
• Investing in product engineering.
• Building the team required to support enterprise customers.
• Strengthening market presence in India and the United States.

For Sachin and Vineet, the funding is not just financial support. It is an opportunity to execute their vision faster and build a globally competitive cybersecurity product from India.

Complementary Founder Strengths

One of the strengths of Zaperon’s founding partnership is the complementary nature of Sachin and Vineet’s experience. Sachin brings experience in corporate strategy, business transformation, and process improvement. Vineet brings deep expertise in software product development, technology architecture, and product management. Sachin primarily focuses on business strategy, market positioning, customer engagement, partnerships, and driving the overall growth of the company. Vineet leads the product and technology direction, including platform architecture, product development, and engineering execution. However, the co-founders do not operate in completely separate silos. In a technology company, business and product decisions are closely connected. Understanding customer requirements influences product priorities, while technology capabilities and market trends influence business strategy. “We regularly discuss major decisions together, challenge each other’s assumptions, and evaluate opportunities from both business and technology perspectives.” Having known each other since their MBA days, Sachin and Vineet have developed a strong level of trust. They may have different perspectives on a problem, but they share the same long-term vision for Zaperon.

AI Is Changing Enterprise Security

As cyber threats become more sophisticated and enterprises increasingly depend on AI agents and digital infrastructure, Zaperon believes Zero Trust is becoming a foundation of enterprise cybersecurity. The traditional concept of a trusted corporate network is no longer sufficient in an environment where employees, contractors, applications, workloads, and devices operate across locations and cloud platforms. Rapid AI adoption has introduced another dimension to enterprise security. Organisations are adopting public GenAI applications, deploying private AI solutions, and experimenting with autonomous AI agents. These systems can access applications, process sensitive information, and perform actions on behalf of users or organisations. “Enterprises cannot blindly trust human or non-human identities.” They need to understand which users and AI agents are accessing resources, what information they can reach, which devices or environments are involved, and whether their activities comply with organisational policies. Identity and access controls must therefore evolve to include machine and AI identities. Zaperon aims to make the implementation of Zero Trust simpler. Instead of deploying separate products for Zero Trust access, identity management, data protection, web security, and AI governance, enterprises can use a unified platform to apply consistent security policies across these areas.

How Enterprises Are Responding?

Enterprise conversations increasingly reflect a common challenge: organisations are managing more applications, users, devices, and data than ever before, but their security controls are often spread across multiple products. Additionally, legacy security tools implemented in enterprises can not offer security controls needed in the modern AI era. This makes it difficult for IT and security teams to maintain consistent policies and visibility. The challenges customers look to address include:

• Securing access for employees working from different locations and devices.
• Reducing dependence on traditional VPNs.
• Controlling the movement of sensitive information.
• Gaining visibility into the use of cloud applications and AI tools.

Zaperon addresses these needs through an identity-centric platform that brings together Zero Trust Access, Identity and Access Management, Web Security, Data Loss Prevention, and AI Governance. An organisation can use Zero Trust Access to control who connects to private applications, device-aware policies to assess the security of the accessing device, and DLP controls to help prevent sensitive information from leaving through endpoints, email, and web applications. As AI adoption grows, AI Governance capabilities can help organisations discover AI usage, understand how AI applications and agents interact with enterprise data, and apply appropriate controls. “The underlying need is consistent: better visibility, context-aware control, and simpler security operations.”

India’s Opportunity in Cybersecurity

India has traditionally been recognised as a major IT services and technology talent hub. Sachin and Vineet believe the next opportunity is to translate more of that capability into globally competitive technology products and intellectual property. Cybersecurity is an important area for this shift because organisations around the world face increasingly complex digital risks and need products that can address them effectively. Building a cybersecurity product company requires more than engineering talent. It calls for a deep understanding of enterprise security challenges, continuous product innovation, strong research and development, and the ability to build trust with customers across markets. “Our goal is not simply to serve the Indian market. It is to build a global cybersecurity product company from India.” At Zaperon, the ambition is to build a globally competitive cybersecurity platform from India and take it to international markets. The company is investing in product engineering and expanding its capabilities across Zero Trust, identity security, data protection, and AI Governance.

A Platform for the AI Era

Looking ahead, Zaperon’s long-term vision is to become a globally recognised cybersecurity product company originating from India, with a platform designed for the security challenges of the AI era. The founders believe the future of enterprise security will be identity-centric. Organisations will need to secure not only employees and external users, but also applications, machines, workloads, and autonomous AI agents. Every identity will need appropriate access, interactions will need to be governed, and sensitive data will need to remain protected regardless of where it moves. Zaperon wants to bring these capabilities together through one unified platform.

Over the coming years, the company’s priorities are to:

• Deepen its AI security capabilities.
• Expand its Zero Trust and data-protection offerings.
• Strengthen its enterprise customer base.
• Grow its presence in international markets.
• Continue investing in product innovation.
• Build a strong engineering and cybersecurity team.
  “Our ambition is to build a platform that enables organisations to adopt new technologies, embrace AI, and transform their businesses without compromising security.”

For Sachin Aggarwal and Vineet Gupta, Zaperon represents more than a cybersecurity company. It represents an effort to make enterprise security simpler, more intelligent, and better suited to a world where humans, machines, and AI agents all need to be trusted—but verified.

Interview By: Sejal Thakur