ProtectBox is pleased to announce that it has secured part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) ideas to address COVID funding to build capability necessary to deliver a significant contribution to the understanding of, and response to, the COVID-19 pandemic and its impacts in the future as part of the government’s commitment to build back better, fairer, and greener.

After having delivered our project funded by Innovate UK’s Sustainable Innovation Fund which is helping all sectors of the UK rebuild after the effects of COVID-19, and the UK meet its ambitions to cut carbon emissions to net zero by 2050. This funding was provided through the Government’s modern industrial strategy by UKRI.

ProtectBox is a user-friendly artificial intelligence (AI) Marketplace-as-a-Service, that lets buyers make smarter, greener, fairer decisions whether they’re an expert or not. We also help our sellers sell smarter, greener, and fairer. We match Consumer, Business, Government and Smart Cities’ buyers to sellers but also bundle our recommended solutions (the full range of products and services) according to our proprietary AI-driven risk scores. We can be white-boxed or in-labelled to government and corporate partners plus extend our users’ offerings. Our proprietary NetZero score automates assessment of how sustainable a company (rather than what they sell) is in experts’ opinions. We also ‘Give’ part of a user’s annual subscription (with us) to their chosen cause.

ProtectBox CEO/CTO Kiran Bhagotra said:

We have always championed sustainability and inclusion, and our previous funding was used to formalise this into our platform, with features such as ‘Give’.

• Inspired by the UN Sustainable Development Goal’s #BeTheChange’s ‘Lazy Person’s Guide to Saving the World’ which inspires people to live sustainably every day.
• We give our users an easy way to donate to their chosen cause, just 1-click when they sign-up with us for a year! If they’d prefer, they can let us decide for them, in which case we off-set the carbon impact of their purchases with us, by donating to a range of carbon reduction causes.
• Our other causes include Mental Wellbeing, Poverty, Homelessness, Animals and Nature, Creative Industries and the Arts, Emergency Responders, People in times of need.
• If our customer has another cause in mind, they can simply get the charity to register and add their cause whether that’s their child’s school, community support, foodbanks, the NHS, or their local health service, as well as many global charities.

We are delighted to have received this additional funding to further amplify this mission.

About ProtectBox

ProtectBox is a user-friendly artificial intelligence (AI) Marketplace-as-a-Service for Consumer, Business, Government and Smart Cities’ buyers:

• We are a “Marketplace” as we match buyers to sellers but going that one step further as we also bundle our recommended solutions (the full range of products and services) by our proprietary AI-driven risk scores.
• We are “as-a-Service” because our full process (assess, match/bundle, compare/personalize, buy/rate/NetZero, predict & give) can be white-boxed or in-labelled to (government and corporate) partners plus extend our users’ offerings. Our proprietary NetZero score automates assessment of how sustainable a company (rather than what they sell) is in experts’ opinions. We also ‘Give’ part of a user’s annual subscription (with us) to their chosen cause.
• Our “AI” lets buyers make smarter, greener, fairer decisions whether they’re an expert or not. We also help our seller users sell smarter, greener, and fairer too. We built this for cybersecurity buyers (with our funding from Innovate UK’s Sustainable Innovation Fund) and are developing to non-security buyers’ use cases in our UKRI ideas to address COVID funding. These include agriculture, education, health, and defence, amongst others.

ProtectBox is a winner of 10 Awards, including CogX’s Best AI in Cybersecurity 2020 (beating BT and Darktrace) and Wired Security Start-Up 2017. Plus, an alumnus of the UK Government’s Department for International Trade’s Technology Export Academy to South East Asia 1.0; Department of Culture, Media and Sport’s Go Global; TechNation’s Rising Stars 1.0 and London & Partners MIBP.

Kiran Bhagotra
ProtectBox Limited
kiran@protectbox.com
+44 7957 457358
stg0.protectbox.com

About Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation

Innovate UK drives productivity and economic growth by supporting businesses to develop and realise the potential of new ideas. We connect businesses to the partners, customers and investors that can help them turn ideas into commercially successful products and services and growth.

We fund business and research collaboration to accelerate innovation and drive business investment into R&D. Our support is available to businesses across all economic sectors, value chains and UK regions. Innovate UK is part of UK Research and Innovation.

UK Research and Innovation: A new body which works in partnership with universities, research organisations, businesses, charities, and government to create the best possible environment for research and innovation to flourish. We aim to maximise the contribution of each of our component parts, working individually and collectively. We work with our many partners to benefit everyone through knowledge, talent, and ideas.

For more information visit www.ukri.org

Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund: The Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund aims to bring together the UK’s world leading research with business to meet the major industrial and societal challenges of our time. The fund was created to provide funding and support to UK businesses and researchers, part of the government’s £4.7 billion increase in research and development over the next 4 years. It was designed to ensure that research and innovation takes centre stage in the Government’s modern Industrial Strategy. It is run by UK Research and Innovation.