Silicon Valley-based Operant AI has officially launched in India, bringing cutting-edge AI security solutions to safeguard the nation’s rapidly growing artificial intelligence sector. By securing critical industries like fintech, healthcare, and enterprise software, Operant aims to accelerate safer AI innovation across the country.
With its 3D Runtime Defense for Cloud and AI, Operant detects and blocks advanced cyber threats in real-time, including prompt injection, rogue agents, data poisoning, and data exfiltration—attacks that can compromise AI systems and expose sensitive data.
As AI adoption surges, cybersecurity risks are becoming a major concern. A recent Deloitte study revealed that 92% of Indian executives view AI-related security threats as a top challenge, while 91% worry about data privacy risks. Traditional security tools like firewalls and static code scanners are no longer enough to combat AI-driven threats.
Operant AI’s real-time defense technology provides instant threat detection and prevention, ensuring AI-powered businesses stay protected without slowing innovation. As cyber risks evolve, India’s AI ecosystem needs proactive security measures—and Operant AI is here to deliver.
Commenting on the need for such a solution, Operant’s CEO and co-founder, Vrajesh Bhavsar, said, “Today, as AI adoption accelerates, ensuring critical security is more urgent than ever—not just to protect businesses, but also to safeguard their customers and end users from cyber threats and data breaches. At Operant, we’ve built a solution that does more than detect threats—it actively protects sensitive data such as citizenship IDs, bank account numbers, and API keys in real-time. Our platform can identify and auto-redact private data before it leaves a company’s environment, ensuring robust data privacy while allowing organizations to scale their AI initiatives confidently and securely.”
As AI adoption surges, privacy and security concerns have become major hurdles to scaling AI models. Leading payment processing platforms are integrating AI-driven fraud detection, but worries about data exposure through AI APIs and containerized models have slowed progress.
Operant AI addresses this challenge with its in-line auto-redaction technology, automatically removing sensitive data before leaving a company’s network. This breakthrough enables businesses in privacy-sensitive industries like BFSI and FinTech to harness AI innovation while maintaining data security and regulatory compliance.
“So much of today’s AI is deployed on Kubernetes, and it’s really important to have a security plan in place to protect these applications and the data they’re using,” said Sarah Novotny, an AI industry leader who served on the founding team of Kubernetes at Google and is currently on the board of the Coalition for Secure AI (CosAI). “Operant’s in-line auto-redaction enables teams to develop AI faster with Kubernetes-native privacy controls that span from infrastructure to AI APIs, ensuring security, platform, and development teams can work together seamlessly to build today’s leading AI technologies.”
Most runtime cybersecurity solutions flood teams with excessive, unactionable alerts, making it difficult to address real threats. Operant AI takes a different approach by offering real-time attack detection, prioritization, and prevention across live application environments. Its technology protects every AI-connected cloud stack through AI APIs, containerized models, or third-party AI integrations for tasks like data analysis.
The company’s India expansion marks a meaningful return for its founders, who have spent years leading Silicon Valley’s tech innovation. Founded in 2021 in San Francisco, Operant AI set out to tackle modern software security challenges. After securing seed funding, the company emerged from stealth in April 2023 and later raised its Series A round in September 2024, bringing its total funding to $13.5 million. Silicon Valley-based Felicis and Washington led the investment in DC-based Sinewave.
For co-founders, Vrajesh Bhavsar (CEO) and Dr. Priyanka Tembey (CTO), securing AI-driven attack surfaces has long been a priority. Over a decade ago, they worked together on AI-powered security for the Android ecosystem, protecting users from evolving cyber threats.
Bhavsar and Tembey bring a strong blend of hardware and software expertise. Bhavsar, a University of Gujarat graduate, earned his Master’s in Computer Science from USC before starting his career as a kernel engineer at Apple and later leading ARM’s ML/AI division. Tembey, a University of Pune alumna, earned a PhD in Computer Science from Georgia Tech and was the chief architect for VMWare’s hybrid cloud product. Ashley Roof, Operant’s third co-founder, is a Stanford University graduate with extensive experience in sales and marketing, including helping build Google’s India operations in Hyderabad and Gurgaon.
Operant’s India launch follows its recent recognition as a representative vendor in Gartner’s Market Guide for AI Trust, Risk, and Security Management (AI TRiSM), released on February 18, 2025. This month, Bhavsar, Tembey, and Roof meet industry leaders and customers in Bengaluru, Pune, and Ahmedabad to establish Operant AI’s permanent presence in the Indian market.
