Trident was founded by Dekai Li, Junaid Mahmood in 2025.

Who are Trident's investors?

Trident's investors include Vela Partners, Y Combinator, Founders Factory.

Where is Trident headquartered?

Trident is headquartered in San Francisco, US.

Trident

YC S26

San Francisco, US · Founded 2025 · 4 employees · 3 known investors

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Trident is an AI-assisted security platform for continuous web and API penetration testing and cloud attack-path analysis, connecting cloud assets, identities, data stores, and application findings to prioritize risks. It serves security teams and integrates with cloud, identity, data, and developer platforms such as AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, Kubernetes, Snowflake, Okta, and GitHub.

Also known as Esprit Labs, Inc · Esprit

AI & Machine Learning Cloud Computing Cybersecurity Enterprise Software Security AIUnited States of AmericaAmerica / Canada

Founders & leadership· Y Combinator alumni (S26)

Trident was founded in 2025 by Dekai Li and Junaid Mahmood.

Dekai Li CTOFounder of Trident, an AI-assisted security platform for continuous web and API penetration testing and cloud attack-path analysis that helps security teams prioritize risks across cloud assets, identities, and data stores.

Junaid Mahmood CEO & Co-founderCo-founder of Trident, an AI-assisted security platform for continuous web and API penetration testing and cloud attack-path analysis. His background includes competitive capture-the-flag security challenges and bug bounty hunting, and he began teaching coding at age 16.

Investors · 3

Vela Partnerslisted by Vela PartnersSan Francisco · $100K – $500K

Y Combinatorlisted by Y CombinatorSan Francisco · $500K

How we know: the Y Combinator directory · open dataset · 5k.vc investor directory · Not right? Tell us

Founders FactoryreportedLondon · $150K – $200K

How we know: Y Combinator's founder network · Not right? Tell us

Related companies · 6

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Gecko SecurityGecko is a code security platform that uses AI to analyze codebases, infrastructure, and logic to detect exploitable vulnerabilities and provide developer fixes. It targets enterprise and startup development teams seeking to find complex, multi-step attack chains and business logic flaws in their code and microservices.

PromptArmorPromptArmor provides a security platform that protects enterprise organizations from AI-specific security threats and vulnerabilities. The company focuses on novel AI security challenges that traditional cybersecurity solutions do not address.

Veria LabsVeria AI is an autonomous pentesting platform that identifies and exploits security vulnerabilities across code repositories, then generates fix recommendations. It integrates with developer tools to surface exploitable flaws that automated reviews and human security teams typically miss.

FuzzbuzzFuzzbuzz provides automated fuzzing testing delivered as a cloud service for software developers seeking to identify vulnerabilities and edge cases in their applications.

Companies working in the same space as Trident.

Legal entities · 1

corporate structure

Esprit Labs, Inc

In the news

Trident: Secure your company 24/7ycombinator.com · Aug 2026

Frequently asked questions

What does Trident do?: Trident is an AI-assisted security platform for continuous web and API penetration testing and cloud attack-path analysis, connecting cloud assets, identities, data stores, and application findings to prioritize risks. It serves security teams and integrates with cloud, identity, data, and developer platforms such as AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, Kubernetes, Snowflake, Okta, and GitHub.
Who founded Trident?: Trident was founded by Dekai Li, Junaid Mahmood in 2025.
Who are Trident's investors?: Trident's investors include Vela Partners, Y Combinator, Founders Factory.
Where is Trident headquartered?: Trident is headquartered in San Francisco, US.