About Confidencial
Defense-grade cryptography, commercialized. Built at SRI International under DARPA funding to protect national security data. We spun out in 2021 because the enterprise faces the same threat.
Book a DemoDefense R&D invested at SRI before commercial launch
Granted and pending patents in cryptographic protection
Peer-reviewed papers from co-founder Karim Eldefrawy
Spun out of SRI International to serve the enterprise
Our origin
Confidencial's cryptographic IP was developed under DARPA at SRI International, which is the research institute behind GPS, Siri, and the first internet node. The mission: enable collaboration on sensitive data without ever exposing it. In 2021, we spun out to bring that answer to the enterprise.
DARPA Research Begins
Cryptographic protection for sensitive and unstructured data funded under DARPA and the U.S. Air Force at SRI International.
IP Development & Validation
75+ peer-reviewed papers. 31+ patents filed. NIST validation. DoD Tradewinds assessed “Awardable.” $25M+ in research funding across DARPA, DHS, IARPA, Air Force, NSF, Boeing, and General Motors.
Confidencial Spins Out of SRI
Commercial launch. Oversubscribed seed round. Technology moves from classified defense research to enterprise data protection.
Recognition & Enterprise Scale
PwC Cybersecurity & Privacy Award. AFWERX STTR Phase II contract. ISO 27001, HIPAA, PCI DSS certified. Deployments in legal, pharma, insurance, and financial services.
Data Solution of the Year
2026 Data Breakthrough Award. Cybersecurity Breakthrough Award. Full platform live across Discover, Shield, Exchange, AI Guard, Spaces, and Pipeline.
Traditional security measures are increasingly falling short, especially in the face of sophisticated cyber threats and the complex web of modern data usage. So we created a solution that doesn’t just shield the perimeter but secures the data itself - and we do it automatically and by-default at the time of origination or ingestion of the data.”
Karim Eldefrawy, PhD
Co-Founder & CTO, Confidencial
Meet the team
Defense-funded research on one side. Enterprise go-to-market on the other. We've built companies, scaled engineering organizations, and shipped products live in regulated industries.
Stewart Walchli
CEO
Karim Eldefrawy, PhD
Co-Founder & CTO
Adam Draper
V of Sales & Alliances
Dane Wheeler, PhD
VP of Engineering
Julie Taylor
VP of Marketing
Kevin Dacey
VP of Customer Solutions and Success
Also on the team
Governance
Board of Directors
Kiichiro DeLuca
WERU Investment
Jennifer Wu
First Spark Ventures
Stewart Walchli
CEO
Karim Eldefrawy
Co-Founder, CTO
Todd Stavish
SRI Ventures
(Observer)
Manish Kothari
First Spark Ventures
(Observer)
Advisors
Razmik Abnous
Co-Founder, Confidencial
Maritza Johnson
Center for Digital Civil Society, USD
Timothy J. Held
EVP & CISO, U.S. Bank
Bill Ward
Sr. Director, SRI International
Eric Sanchez
CISO, Kyowa Kirin
Nigel Smart
Professor, COSIC (KU Leuven)
Awards & Recognition
Data Solution of the Year
2026 · Data Breakthrough Awards
Cybersecurity Breakthrough Award
2026 · Cybersecurity Breakthrough
Cybersecurity & Privacy Award
2023 · PwC
DoD Tradewinds “Awardable”
2022 · U.S. Department of Defense
Work with us
30 minutes with our team. We'll show you exactly what the technology does against your specific data risk.
Book a Demo