Karpia is a Cambodian cybersecurity startup founded by Eung Porhai, a tech expert from Kampong Cham, with the aim of providing international-level service to clients in the banking sector and government agencies.

Eung Porhai, 31, who earned his Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology from the Royal University of Phnom Penh and is the first place winner of the Digital Platform Accelerator Cohort 2, organized by Techo Startup Center, founded startup Karpia which provides cybersecurity services.

As a student, Porhai started working part-time in the technology field as a Network Engineer for five years before shifting his career to focus on cybersecurity, and he later became a Security Manager.

In late 2019, Porhai attended a cybersecurity event in Thailand. He was surrounded by young individuals with impressive knowledge of cybersecurity, a stark contrast to the situation in Cambodia at the time. Porhai was amazed by their expertise and their insights into the future job market.

Realizing a limited talent pool for cybersecurity in Cambodia, Porhai founded SalaCyber in 2020, a training center that offers professional cybersecurity courses. He later founded Karpia, a cybersecurity service provider, to accommodate market gap and demand.

He said companies, such as banks, spend approximately $1 million a year to acquire cybersecurity services from abroad. “I started Karpia to show that Cambodia also has cybersecurity experts.”

Karpia registered with the Ministry of Commerce in April 2024. A year into operation, Karpia secured many customers streaming from its long-standing experience and networking, which convinced clients to build trust in their capabilities.

Why invest in cybersecurity?

Porhai explained that their target customers are banks and government agencies; they have the resources and a high demand for cybersecurity. They should employ his services because his company has clear guidelines and standards to provide solutions and tests, which are critical to protect their customers before hackers can strike.

Another reason is that companies face major risks that occur with weak cybersecurity and can result in hackers damaging a company’s mobile app, for example. This can lead to loss of money and time spent developing the app. It could also lead to customers’ personal information being stolen.

Digital Platform Accelerator Program for Startups

In 2023, Karpia enrolled in Digital Platform Accelerator Cohort 2 and received an equity-free of 40 million riel (approximately $10,000) to help Karpia expand.

Techo Startup Center (TSC) established Digital Platform Accelerator three years ago to support startups in Cambodia. To date, it has seen the development of nearly 40 startups since cohort one. It is now in its fourth cohort.

“I felt happy when they announced that our team won. We never expected to win. It was amazing,” Porhai said.

The prize money was significant as it allowed Porhai to quit his full-time job and focus on his startup expanding his team from one to 10 technical experts while servicing more than 20 corporate companies and government agencies in Cambodia.

Over the past five years, Cambodia’s startup landscape has developed on the back of technological advancements, entrepreneurial ambition and strategic collaborations.

Techo Startup Center supports Cambodia’s startup ecosystem by nurturing startups through its Digital Platform Accelerator (DPA) programme, is a 3-month program designed to support digital startups in developing innovative solutions for the market, with a particular focus on MSMEs.

Bold ideas

Wing Bank has been a regular partner of Techo Startup Center, supporting the growth of startups in Cambodia by providing financial support, mentoring startups, sharing experiences, and contributing to the evaluation process of the program’s winners.

Since 2020, Wing Bank has supported various initiatives of Techo Startup Center designed to foster innovation and entrepreneurship in Cambodia. These initiatives include the Reverse Innovation Program (Cohorts 1 to 4), the Digital SME Accelerator Program in 2021, the Digital Platform Accelerator Program (Cohorts 1, 2, and 4), the Turing Hackathon Cycle 6 in 2024, and the Startup Ecosystem Trip to Vietnam in 2024.

Over the past five years of their collaboration, the duo has supported 67 startups in gaining skills and validating their startup ideas.

Karpia is one of the successful startups participating in the program. There are many more in the program, such as SalaTech (ed-tech), Localize (accounting), Kotluy App (fintech), and Krubkrong (MSME platform).

“Entrepreneurship and innovation are key drivers of Cambodia’s economic future. Our collaboration with Techo Startup Center goes beyond funding; it’s about providing entrepreneurs with the knowledge, skills, and opportunities they need to succeed in a competitive digital landscape,” said Bunthe Hor, Deputy CEO of Wing Bank.

“We remain committed to supporting bold ideas that drive sustainable economic growth and shape the next generation of entrepreneurs.”

What is the Techo Startup Center?

Porhai highlighted that he and his team acquired many skills from Techo Startup Center In the beginning, they only had hard skills, but after working with the center they gained soft skills from their mentors and seniors. This gave him the ability to sell his service in the market.

But he contended that although Karpia consists of highly-experienced cybersecurity experts, it does face issues convincing new customers to trust their services as they are a new startup. “The male IT team might be good at soft skills, but their soft skills might need some work,” Porhai said.

Offering advice for future developers, he said those who want to establish a startup or business should first think about solving an often-occurring problem in society. “Offer those solutions to your clients instead of ignoring what people need,” he said, urging new developers to keep a lookout for problems faced by the public and solving them using technology.”

“You should join the startup challenge because you want to solve community challenges, not for the prize,” Porhai advised those willing to join the startup contest. “One should work on their startup while they are young, as they have more time to explore through their lessons learned and successes.”

This article was originally reported by Kiripost. Read the full story here.