While there's a lot of competition in the enterprise secure file-sharing market these days (Alfresco, Box, Watchdox, Egnyte, etc.), Sookasa has the early markers for success. They got distracted by fixing that problem, Asaf told Business Insider.Īsaf showed the file security project to his Stanford professor, who introduced him to Accel's Gandhi and a startup was born, he said. While passing files back and forth on such projects, they realized they weren't happy with how secure their files were. They were building one that will turn your air conditioner on a half-hour before you get home. Son Asaf was earning his doctorate at Stanford, and both father and son like to geek out together and build apps. He previously co-founded Actona, (acquired by Cisco) Viola (acquired by Fluke Networks) and Micronet (public, MCRNL). Dad Israel was formerly an electrical engineering professor at Technion University in Israel, which is like the Stanford University there. Sookasa raised $5 million from Accel Partners, backed by Sameer Gandhi (investor of Dropbox, and security company Sourcefire).Įqually interesting is how this father/son duo decided to go into business together. Ditto for helping lawyers comply with their industry's security regulations while using popular cloud storage. Its claim to fame is that it adds HIPPA security to files, so doctors can use Dropbox, Gmail, etc., while complying with health care laws. But if you ask him if that means his dad has to follow his orders, Asaf only laughs.Īnd, instead of making duck calls for hunters, Asaf and his dad, Israel Cidon (who is CTO), offer a cloud service that secures files stored in popular cloud storage apps. Asaf is the son and the CEO of Sookasa, which technically makes him his dad's boss. He's pointing out the obvious visual differences between the Cidon family's scalp and chin regions and that of the Robertsons, the famed bushy-bearded family that stars in A&E's hit reality series. 'It's like 'Duck Dynasty.' Only without hair,' jokes Asaf Cidon, co-founder and CEO of a file-sharing startup called Sookasa that came out of stealth this week. What's does it feel like to do a startup with your dad?

Asaf Cidon (left) and Israel Cidon, co-founders, Sookasa

Download sookasa