HoundDog.ai is a San Francisco-based cybersecurity company that helps organizations proactively prevent leaks of sensitive data, such as personally identifiable information (PII), payment information (PIFI), and protected health information (PHI), by integrating data security and privacy controls directly at the code level. The platform’s AI-powered code scanner detects vulnerabilities where sensitive data could be exposed (in logs, files, or third-party systems), automates the generation of sensitive data maps and Records of Processing Activities (RoPA) for GDPR compliance, and provides real-time alerts as new data elements are introduced. HoundDog.ai’s mission is to empower companies to stop PII leaks before they happen and to automate privacy compliance, enabling privacy by design at the speed of modern development.
Leadership
Amjad Afanah, CEO & Co-Founder Amjad Afanah is a serial entrepreneur with deep expertise in cybersecurity and cloud platforms. Before HoundDog.ai, he founded DCHQ (acquired by HyperGrid) and APISec.ai, and served as VP of Product at Cyral, a data security platform. His experience spans product leadership at companies like Cruise, HyperGrid, and VMware, with a focus on building solutions that address the gaps between security, privacy, and development workflows.
Joohwan Oh, CTO & Co-Founder Joohwan Oh is an experienced engineering leader who has scaled services for millions of users and built new software from scratch. Prior to HoundDog.ai, he was a founding engineer at Aktos (FinTech), and led projects at Facebook, Amazon, and Instacart. At HoundDog.ai, Joohwan oversees the cloud platform and AI workflows that power the scanner’s accuracy and coverage.
Core Technologies
AI-Powered Code Scanner Uses a combination of traditional pattern matching and large language models (LLMs) to detect code logic handling sensitive data, flagging vulnerabilities where PII might be exposed in plaintext across logs, files, tokens, cookies, and third-party systems.
Automated Data Mapping & RoPA Generation Automatically generates and updates sensitive data maps and Records of Processing Activities (RoPA) for GDPR compliance, documenting data flows and processing activities at the pace of development.
Third-Party Data Flow Tracking Tracks and visualizes sensitive data as it flows through internal systems and to third-party integrations, providing proactive alerts for potential data processing agreement (DPA) violations.
Real-Time Alerts & Risk Scoring Provides instant notifications when new sensitive data elements are introduced to the codebase, with risk scoring that factors in data sensitivity for more accurate prioritization.
Seamless Integration Supports popular programming languages (Java, C#, JavaScript, TypeScript, Python, Kotlin, Ruby) and integrates with CI pipelines, developer workflows, and code repositories. The scanner can process over 3 million lines of code in under three minutes.
Key Capabilities
Early detection and prevention of PII, PIFI, and PHI leaks in code
Automated, up-to-date data mapping and RoPA documentation for compliance
Real-time monitoring and alerting for new data elements and DPA violations
Visualization of data flows, including third-party integrations
Enhanced risk scoring based on data sensitivity
Fast, scalable scanning that integrates with developer and AppSec workflows
Investors
HoundDog.ai is a privately held company. In May 2024, it raised $3.1 million in seed funding.
Lead Investors: E14 Fund, Mozilla Ventures, ex/ante
Other Investors: Several angel investors, including Amjad Masad (CEO of Replit)
The funds are being used to enhance the cloud platform, expand support for additional programming languages, and provide a comprehensive view of vulnerabilities across code repositories.
Notable Clients
Juvare: Bryan Kaplan, CISO of Juvare, publicly endorses HoundDog.ai for its seamless integration with GitLab workflows and its ability to prevent accidental leaks of sensitive data in dynamic codebases.
Competitors
Company Name
Description
Snyk
Developer-first security platform for finding and fixing vulnerabilities in code, dependencies, and containers.
GitGuardian
Automated secrets detection and code security for developers and DevSecOps teams.
Nightfall AI
AI-powered data leak prevention and sensitive data discovery for code, SaaS, and cloud environments.
SpectralOps
Code security platform for detecting sensitive data and misconfigurations in codebases.
Bearer
Automated privacy engineering platform for detecting and remediating sensitive data risks in code.
