Venn Software, a New York startup building an MDM-like solution for laptops, has attracted $29 million in early stage funding as investors continue to bet on cybersecurity companies protecting the remote workforce.
Venn said the Series A financing was led by NewSpring and provides capital for the company to make MDM for laptops a reality and provide a less costly new alternative to virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI).
Venn is pitching a Secure Enclave product that is company controlled and installed on remote employee laptops (Windows or macOS) to ensure all data is encrypted and access is managed. “Similar to MDM, but for laptops, work applications run locally within the enclave where business activity is isolated and protected from any personal use on the same computer,” the company explained.
“Company data is protected without having to control the entire device,” Venn added.
Venn and its investors are betting that remote work and a distributed workforce becomes more permanent, requiring new approaches to manage data flowing through unmanaged devices. The company called attention to the “blurring lines of personal and business time” and warned that the rise of contractors, gig and offshore workers, have pushed companies to look for new ways to secure remote work.
Venn is arguing that traditional solutions like VDI are costly and often frustrate users because of latency and slowness. In place of VDI technology, Venn says it is building the first purpose-built technology for Secure BYO-PC (Bring Your Own Personal Computer).
“Before Venn, companies had to ship laptops or rely on complex and costly VDI to support remote workers and stay compliant with regulatory requirements,” said David Matalon, co-founder and CEO at Venn. “Instead of having to buy, manage, and lock down every PC, remote work can now be secured on any BYOD or unmanaged computer.”
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