Quick Heal to invest more in Israeli startup L7 Defense

Homegrown IT security company Quick Heal Technologies on Thursday said it has signed a definitive agreement to invest $2 million (nearly Rs 14.7 crore at current exchange rates) in L7 Defense, an Israeli API security startup.

The fresh investment comes a year after the Pune headquartered company infused $300,000 in the startup in November 2019.

The capital from the latest round, a statement said, will enable strategic alignment between the two companies for Quick Heal to expand its enterprise solutions under the Seqrite platform and introduce L7’s flagship products in India as well as other APAC and EMEA regions.

“L7 Defense has proven its unique capabilities in the area of API Security and NG-WAF (next generation web application firewall), which led us to further increase our investment. Simultaneously, this move enables Seqrite to foray into application security and strengthen our solution stack to secure modern enterprises against the next-generation of cyberattacks,” Kailash Katkar, managing director and CEO of Quick Heal Technologies, said.

Founded in 2015, L7 offers Ammune Defense Shield (ADS) as its flagship solution. It utilises an unsupervised AI/ML technology to actively protect APIs and API-based applications from attacks such as distributed denial of services (DDOS) and BOT attacks.

It has been deployed by companies in the financial, telecom and SaaS sectors in North America, Europe, and APAC regions, and is recognised by Frost & Sullivan as the leading solution in the API security market.

Quick Heal also invested Rs 2 crore in internet connectivity startup Ray in May 2020.

“At Quick Heal Technologies, we are always on the lookout for right investment opportunities by evaluating new platforms and technologies that enable us to support the digital transformation journey of our customers,” CEO Katkar said.

Commenting on the fundraise, Yisrael Gross, co-founder of L7 Defense, said, “This investment is strategic, and will enable us to further extend our technological leadership, to increase our exposure, and gain further market awareness.”