A modern corporate network might connect tens of thousands of systems, from employee laptops to cloud instances, and at least some are bound to go unnoticed by the information technology department. That presents a cybersecurity problem: Companies can’t protect devices they don’t know exist.

Enter Axonius Inc., a New York-based startup tackling this visibility gap that today announced it has raised $20 million in funding. OpenView led the round with participation from Bessemer Venture Partners, Vertex Ventures and a number of other returning backers. The investment comes hot on the heels of a $13 million funding round for the startup earlier this year. 

Axonius’ namesake platform uses the data collected by the existing security systems in a company’s network to create an inventory of digital assets. The platform maps out the types of devices inside an organization, what software they run, any vulnerabilities they may have and related details. It then makes the data searchable through a query interface that enables IT professionals to look for systems with security policy violations.

An administrator could, for example, run a search to surface employee computers that don’t have an antivirus installed. They can also configure Axonius to automatically fix such policy violations in the future. The platform can download antivirus agents onto unprotected endpoints, as well as perform other remediation steps such as blocking vulnerable programs.

Axonius argues that it’s addressing a big blind spot for enterprises. According to the startup, 10% to 18% of the devices in the average company are unmanaged and up to a quarter are missing at least one piece of security software. 

The New York Times, Schneider Electric SE and biotech juggernaut ThermoFisher Scientific Inc. are some of the companies that Axonius’ has won over with its pitch so far. The startup claims that it saw a fourfold increase in annual recurring revenue this year thanks to strong demand. It will use the new funding to double down on sales and marketing, as well as speed up product development.

Axonius has raised $37 million to date. 

Photo: Axonius