Axonius: A Cybersecurity Asset Management Platform

Axonius: A Cybersecurity Asset Management Platform
Axonius Success Story

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Cybersecurity asset management refers to the company's capability to conduct and maintain an accurate inventory of each cyber-enabled technology, including software and hardware. It involves identifying the computerized systems in an industrial control environment and proactively managing additions, removals, and alterations to those devices.

Historically, asset management looked at network traffic or attempted to assign an agent to everything, leaving enterprises drowned in data. Compared to the rivals targeting the cybersecurity asset management market, Axonius, a US-based company, has a different approach to delivering services.

It focuses solely on bringing data together from a customer's existing infrastructure and controls instead of deploying something new. From Axonius's founders and startup story to growth, learn more about the company in this article.

Axonius – Company Highlights

Company Name Axonius
Headquarters New York City, New York, United States
Sector Cybersecurity
Founders Dean Sysman, Ofri Shur, and Avidor Bartov
Founded In 2017
Valuation $2.6 billion (2022)
Website Axonius.com

Axonius – About
Axonius – Industry
Axonius – Founders and Team
Axonius – Startup Story
Axonius – Mission and Vision
Axonius – Business Model
Axonius – Products and Services
Axonius – Funding and Investors
Axonius – Growth
Axonius – Marketing Strategies
Axonius – Partners
Axonius – Awards and Achievements
Axonius – Competitors

Axonius – About

Axonius is the cybersecurity asset management platform providing enterprises with a suite of asset inventory, uncovers gaps, and automatically validates and enforces security policies. The New York-based company covers millions of assets for companies worldwide, including user accounts, devices and cloud assets, and SaaS applications.

Axonius – Industry

Cybersecurity is a method used to protect networks, systems, and programs from digital attacks. The global cybersecurity market size was $221.72 billion in 2022 and is forecasted to reach $657.02 billion in 2030.

The rapid growth of security solutions across all industries during the Covid-19 pandemic led to market growth. In addition, the integration of technologies, including the Internet of Things (IoT), Cloud, and Machine Learning (ML), is another leading factor driving the growth of the cybersecurity industry.

Besides Axonius, Cisco Systems, Microsoft Corporation, IBM Corporation, Fortinet, Inc., and Palo Alto Networks, Inc. are key companies in the industry.

Size of Cybersecurity market Worldwide
Size of Cybersecurity market Worldwide

Axonius – Founders and Team

Dean Sysman, Ofri Shur, and Avidor Bartov co-founded Axonius in 2017.

Dean Sysman

Dean Sysman - Co-founder and CEO, Axonius
Dean Sysman - Co-founder and CEO, Axonius

Dean Sysman attended the University of Haifa for BSc in Computer Science. He is the ex-co-founder and CTO of Cymmetria. Currently, he is the Official Member of the Forbes Technology Council and Fast Company Executive Board.

Sysman is working as the CEO and Co-founder at Axonius. Moreover, he is an investor in various startups, including NeoWise, Ramp, Torq, NextSilicon, and Salt Security.

Ofri Shur

Ofri Shur - Co-founder and CTO, Axonius
Ofri Shur - Co-founder and CTO, Axonius

Ofri Shur completed BSc in Mathematics and Physics from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He has worked as Head of the Research Section at IDF and CTO at KayHut. Shur Co-founded Axonius and holds the position of CTO.

Avidor Bartov

Avidor Bartov - Co-founder and Chief Architect, Axonius
Avidor Bartov - Co-founder and Chief Architect, Axonius

Avidor Bartov completed his BSc in Computer Science from The Open University of Israel. He held the position of Web Penetration Tester at BugSec and Research Team Leader at Israel Defense Forces. Bartov is the Chief Architect and Co-founder of Axonius.


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Axonius – Startup Story

The co-founders of Axonius, Dean Sysman, Ofri Shur, and Avidor Bartov, met while serving in an intelligence unit of the Israeli military and incorporated the company in June 2017. When working at another cybersecurity startup, a huge U.S. company contacted them and asked for baking off a deception product. After deploying the solutions, Sysman, Shur, and Bartov found that an active group of Chinese hackers was trying to install a code on their decoy.

However, the U.S. company refused to take action by saying they didn't understand this part of the network well. It said that their I.T. team would open a ticket and use the tools to manage endpoints to install that software. But the company wasn't aware of the exact tool. Sysman tried to find the tool from the list of about 20+ tools provided by the company. However, they couldn't find it. He asked the company about their number of devices, but it couldn't provide exact figures.

It's when Sysman started asking every CISO and CIO about how many devices they have, but everyone used to say they didn't know or provide a wide range. It's when Sysman realized the network is dynamic and, thus, came up with the idea of Axonius to solve the asset management challenge for cybersecurity.

Axonius launched a new business unit named 'AxoniusX' on June 16, 2021, to create more avenues of growth via innovation. In October 2021, it expanded into the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region and unveiled the Axonius SaaS Management solution in January 2022. The company completed two prototype projects for the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) in March 2023, and two months later, Axonius released Axonius 5.0.

Axonius employs approximately 620 employees.

Axonius – Mission and Vision

Axonius's mission is GROWTH, in which 'G' stands for Grow, 'R' for Relentlessly Pursue Truth, 'O' for Ownership, 'W' for Win, 'T' for Team, and 'H' for Humility.

Axonius – Business Model

With solutions for SaaS management and cyber asset attack surface management (CAASM), Axonius is deployed within a few minutes and correlates asset data from existing solutions to provide an up-to-date inventory uncovers security solutions gaps, and automates response actions.

The company gives I.T. and security teams the confidence to control complexity by navigating risks, mitigating threats, decreasing incidents with automated response actions, and informing business-level strategy. With Axonius, IT and security teams can save time by moving away from reactive, disruptive day-to-day firefighting and focusing on the bigger picture.

Axonius – Products and Services

Axonius platform offers multiple functionalities, including Cybersecurity Asset Management, SaaS Management, Cyber Asset Inventory, Cyber Asset Attack Surface Management, Cloud Asset Compliance, and Policy Enforcement.

Axonius – Funding and Investors

Axonius has undertaken 7 funding rounds and raised $665 million. The company's latest funding round - Series E Round, was conducted on March 8, 2022, and raised $200 million. Around 18 investors back Axonius, including ICONIQ Growth, Alta Park Capital, Alkeon Capital, Own Rock Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Accel.

Date Round Number of Investors Money Raised Lead Investor
March 8, 2022 Series E 10 $200 million Accel
March 9, 2021 Secondary market 4 $270 million -
March 1, 2021 Series D 6 $100 million Stripes
March 31, 2020 Series C 7 $58 million Lightspeed Venture Partners
August 27, 2019 Series B 6 $20 million OpenView
February 12, 2019 Series A 6 $13 million Bessemer Venture Partners
September 6, 2017 Seed Round 4 $4 million YL Ventures

Axonius – Growth

In 2021, Axonius achieved 132% year-over-year growth in annual recurring revenue in the first half. The company expanded to 8 new countries, which increased its international ARR by 230%. Moreover, its team and customer base increased by about 50% over the past year.

Axonius's post-money valuation increased more than two times to $2.6 billion in March 2022 and the employee count increased by 52%.

Axonius – Marketing Strategies

Axonius launched many marketing campaigns, of which some miss and some succeed. In May 2021, the company launched a 'CYBERFST' marketing campaign that features multiple sessions, technology demos, music, networking with peers, celebrities, sarcasm, and surprises. But the campaign failed because it was too ambitious.

Axonius - CYBRFST
Axonius - CYBRFST

Furthermore, since Axonius received many industry recognitions in 2021, it came up with blogs and press releases touting its awesomeness. Awards with effective content strategy showed external validation to potential customers and employees.

Axonius – Partners

Axonius has partnered with the following renowned channel programs and professional services partners:

  • 443 Technologies
  • Alta Technologia
  • Artha Mitra Interdata
  • Ascent Global
  • ePlus
  • CloverIT
  • Ignition Technology
  • Netpoleon
  • CISCO
  • Okta
  • AWS
  • ServiceNow

Axonius – Awards and Achievements

Axonius is cited as one of the fastest-growing cybersecurity startups, with accolades from Fortune, Forbes, and CNBC.

  • Named as 2023 Best Workplaces by Inc. Magazine for the second consecutive year
  • Earned a 5-Star Rating in the 2023 CRN Partner Program Guide for a third consecutive year
  • Ranked 3 on the 2022 Deloitte Technology Fast 500
  • Named to the 2022 Forbes Cloud 100
  • Named on the 2022 Women of the Channel List by CRN
Cybersecurity Asset Management and SaaS Management

Axonius – Competitors

Axonius is ranked 3rd among 228 active competitors.

  • SAFE
  • ZenGRC
  • IBM OpenPages
  • Balbix Security Cloud
  • Panaseer Platform
  • Armis
  • ForeScout
  • AppOmni

FAQs

What does Axonius do?

Axonius is the cybersecurity asset management platform providing enterprises with a suite of asset inventory, uncovers gaps, and automatically validates and enforces security policies.

Who are the founders of Axonius?

Dean Sysman, Ofri Shur, and Avidor Bartov co-founded Axonius in 2017.

Who are the main competitors of Axonius?

Below are the main competitors of Axonius -

  • SAFE
  • ZenGRC
  • IBM OpenPages
  • Balbix Security Cloud
  • Panaseer Platform
  • Armis
  • ForeScout
  • AppOmni

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