Apono fetches $5m seed

DevSecOps startup Apono has secured $5 million in seed funding. Meron Capital led the round.

PRESS RELEASE

Founded by Israeli Army intelligence veterans and backed by industry leaders, the firm delivers Simplified Access Permissions Management, boosting both security and productivity for cloud-based organizations.

Apono has completed a $5 million Seed round led by Meron Capital with participation from Booster Ventures, YYM and 15 angel investors. Angels include several founders of successful cybersecurity companies and industry veterans such as Ofir Ehrlich, Shlomi Boutnaru and Doron Alter.

Apono was founded in late 2021 by Rom Carmel (CEO) and Ofir Stein (CTO) who have over 20 years of experience in DevOps and Security combined. Rom held management positions in the R&D of the cyber divisions of the Israeli Prime Minister’s office where he obtained first hand experience of cybersecurity failures in organizations. Ofir was an Air Force officer in the Ofek unit. As one of the first developers and later on a core product development leader at Logz.io, Ofir and the developers he managed suffered from the problem of mismanaged permissions first hand.

“Everyday we hear about another company whose customer information has been leaked. The leading cause is inadequate privilege management”, says Apono CEO Rom Carmel.
He adds, “Companies are urged more than ever to deliver fast value to their customers. They cannot have permissions get in the way of employees’ ability to fix bugs, support customers or develop new features. Yet they need to be secure and compliant. We come with the message that business productivity should not come at the cost of security, nor should security come at the cost of productivity. Our clients come to us because they are tired of compromising.”

Apono’s cloud-native access governance solution makes it possible to securely manage permissions, adhere to compliance and customer information security requirements, and allow employees a seamless experience. Apono’s approach is dynamic and context-based, ​​obtaining permissions in the form of Just In Time and Just Enough. That means getting the exact permissions required, under the exact time frame required to execute the task at hand.

The company already employs 10 people at a development center in Israel and is currently hiring internationally. Their product is already fully live and used by large organizations in both the US and Europe. The funds raised will allow them to maintain momentum and further build on their international business development efforts.

“What drew us to Rom and Ofir was their deep understanding of the problem and their clients, and the incredible speed and precision at which they were building Apono,” says Liron Azrielant, Founder and Managing Partner at Meron Capital. “They identified a large pain point that too many companies are struggling with today, and found a way to provide permissions and access management that is simultaneously flexible and secure. It is the best, and most logical solution that exists for accessing cloud assets and data repositories.”

Shlomi Boutnaru, Co-Founder and CTO of Rezilion and previously Cyactive which was sold to Paypal, and among the investment participants: “As a founder of two cybersecurity companies I can tell you that Apono is touching on a problem that every company is facing today. Their solution to securely manage access and permissions is something any DevOps can easily start using to make his company more secure and compliant.”