Apono today announced the successful completion of its Series A funding round, raising $15.5 million. The funding round was led by New Era Capital Partners, with participation from Mindset Ventures, Redseed Ventures, Silvertech Ventures, initial seed investors, and more.
The newly secured funds will be used to advance Apono's mission of providing AI-driven, simple, innovative, and secure solutions that organizations need to manage access in complex, distributed cloud environments. Additionally, these newly secured funds will be used to accelerate product development and enable Apono to continue its growth, deliver value to its customers, and solidify its position in the identity security space. This latest round brings the total investment from new and current investors to $20.5 million.
Apono is a next-gen solution for cloud access governance. The company is committed to delivering capabilities that meet the dynamic needs of modern enterprises and support the development, operations and security teams responsible for securing and maintaining cloud environments they depend on. Apono's innovative approach provides organizations with an understanding of privileged access within their cloud environments, enforces robust security guardrails, and leverages AI-driven least privilege and anomaly detection capabilities to enhance security measures while providing a frictionless experience for end-users.
"Today, more than ever, we are seeing a shift in the identity space," said Apono's Co-Founder and CEO Rom Carmel. "Privileged access management and identity governance are converging, driving the need for more holistic identity and access security solutions, particularly within today's dynamic cloud environments in which modern businesses operate. As we continue our rapid growth, this funding will enable us to maintain our momentum and continue delivering cutting-edge solutions to our clients. Our investors were drawn to Apono's unique AI-driven product offering, innovative approach, and its swift adoption by enterprises, recognizing the company's potential to lead the identity security market."
With this investment, Apono is set to significantly expand its US sales and marketing teams, while also expanding investments in research and development. Customers can anticipate new AI-based access product offerings and improved support from Apono's sales engineering and customer success teams, which have tripled in size in the US. Additionally, to meet the needs of new enterprise customers, the company has added enterprise support teams who will deliver the scale of service today's enterprises require. These strategic developments will ensure seamless onboarding and continuous support for Apono's expanding clientele.
"We are thrilled to support Apono in their mission to revolutionize identity and access security," said Ziv Conen, Partner at New Era Capital Partners. "Apono's innovative solution addresses critical challenges in the cloud access management space, providing organizations with robust, scalable solutions. This investment reflects our confidence in Apono's vision and their ability to lead the market with cutting-edge technology and exceptional customer focus. We look forward to supporting Apono's continued growth and success as they redefine how businesses manage and secure access in today's dynamic environments."
"We were able to self-service Apono in minutes, which significantly enhanced customer trust in our global multi-cloud platform. This seamless integration allows our teams to work without friction, ensuring efficiency and productivity. Moreover, it helps us maintain a least-privilege cloud environment, which is crucial for our security and compliance standards," said Arthur Goren, Director of Cloud Engineering at Hewlett Packard Enterprise.
"In response to the growing complexity and security threats associated with cloud adoption, forward-thinking organizations are increasingly aligning the goals and workflows of their security and engineering teams," said Katie Norton, Research Manager, DevSecOps and Software Supply Chain Security at IDC. "Cloud identity and privilege management are central to these alignment efforts. Apono's approach to cloud privileged access management aligns with these goals and helps bridge the gap between security and engineering teams."
