Two months after it raised a US$5.75 million or C$7.77 million funding round, Saint John cybersecurity startup TrojAI has roughly tripled its presence in Fredericton with the opening of a new office in the city.

Founded by James Stewart and Stephen Goddard in 2019, TrojAI is now helmed by CEO Lee Weiner, who was appointed earlier this year. The company sells cybersecurity software to guard artificial intelligence systems against having malicious code injected via training data.

TrojAI, which currently has more than 20 employees, according to LinkedIn data, said in a statement that its new office is in the city’s Knowledge Park tech hub.

“Our investment in Fredericton is critical to our success in helping enterprises secure AI applications and models," said Weiner.

"Our expanded presence demonstrates a commitment to advancing our products by participating in the rich Fredericton technology ecosystem as well as working with local universities to develop the skills needed to address the evolving challenges posed by adversarial attacks on AI systems."

During an interview in April, Stewart said key decision-makers in both government and the large, private enterprises that are core to TrojAI’s business are increasingly aware of the security risks created by the proliferation of artificial intelligence.

The US$5.75 million funding deal, meanwhile, was led by Seattle's Flying Fish Ventures, a returning investor that also co-led a C$3 million raise from 2022, with Techstars and Halifax’s Build Ventures similarly upping their existing stakes. Also included in the total for the latest raise was $500,000 from the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation, and new investments from California-based Alteryx Ventures and Massachusetts-based Flybridge Capital Partners.

At the time, TrojAI said in a statement the money was earmarked for product development, sales and marketing.