Armis expands past IoT with $300M for ‘comprehensive’ asset security

Armis, which provides a visibility and security platform for all assets within an enterprise including IT and IoT, announced it has raised $300 million in new funding at a post-money valuation of $3.4 billion.

Cofounder and CEO Yevgeny Dibrov said the funding round will allow Armis to accelerate its growth, including with a deeper expansion into markets outside North America, and will also enable future acquisitions to help advance the capabilities of the Armis platform.

Notably, the Palo Alto, California-based company has increased its valuation to $3.4 billion less than a year after achieving a $2 billion post-money valuation, in connection with a funding round announced in February. For the new $300 million investment, private equity firm One Equity Partners joined with existing investors, Armis said.

IoT security challenges

Strategy Analytics has predicted that by 2025, the world will have 39 billion devices connected to an IoT platform, up from 22 billion in 2018. At the same time, 88% of security professionals report feeling underequipped when it comes to securing connected IoT and industrial IoT devices, according to a recent survey from cyber firm Tripwire.

While initially known as a provider of security for IoT, Armis says its visibility and security platform now offers “comprehensive” protection for every asset in a customer environment. The platform covers assets in IT, medical, enterprise, IoT, industrial IoT, and operational technology (OT), the company said.

Ultimately, Armis says that its agentless platform offers full visibility, vulnerability detection, and risk management for all of a customer’s assets.

Armis “functions as a complete real-time asset map for every asset and device in every environment,” Dibrov said in an email to VentureBeat. “We keep on adding more layers to that map: vulnerabilities, risks, threats, and compliance information. Some of the acceleration in development comes from building out functionality, and some of it comes from partnerships that this round of funding will help fuel.”

For its market expansion initiatives, Armis plans to use the new funding to further expand its reach within EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa), Asia-Pacific, and emerging markets.

The “vast” network of companies that One Equity Partners has connections with will help to open doors in these regions, in particular within manufacturing, distribution, and energy, Dibrov said.

Acquisitions, IPO ahead

In terms of future acquisitions, Armis will primarily focus on complementary products that advance capabilities of the company’s platform and data, he said. “Partnerships in the areas of 5G and other such data partnerships fall into that category,” Dibrov said.

The new funding round also provides Armis with enough cash on hand to execute its growth strategy and carry the company through to an initial public offering, he said.

Looking ahead, Armis will “continue on our journey to build out the full stack of agentless visibility, risk, security, and enforcement tools for every kind of environment,” Dibrov said. “We already operate in every environment and vertical, and we are now expanding the capabilities of our platform into new use cases such as asset lifecycle management, device utilization, supply chain optimization, and many other operational use cases.”

Growth tear

Armis expects to more than double its revenue and triple its customer base for 2021 compared to 2020, according to Nadir Izrael, chief technology officer and cofounder at the company. Armis currently works with 35% of Fortune 100 companies, and “we expect significant continued growth through 2021 and beyond” as the company expands into key regions and verticals, Izrael said in an email. Current customers include Mondelez International, Home Depot, John Muir Health, Sysco, and DocuSign, Izrael said.

Armis didn’t disclose its headcount, but the company’s website says it has nearly 500 employees globally.

With the new funding, Armis has now raised a total of $600 million since its founding in 2015. Private equity and venture capital firm Insight Partners remains the majority shareholder in Armis following the new investment. Other existing investors are Brookfield Asset Management, Georgian, Alphabet’s CapitalG independent growth fund, and Red Dot.

The challenges of securing the internet of things, paired with the continued growth of IoT-connected devices, have made IoT security an active area for startups and venture funding. Other recent investments in the space have included $100 million for Axonius in February; $27 million for Sternum in September; $10 million for Viakoo in October; and $7.4 million for Shield-IoT this month.