After growing revenues more than 750% over the last two years, cybersecurity startup Armis Inc. today announced that it has raised a $125 million funding round led by Brookfield Technology Partners.

The investment values Armis at $2 billion. That’s up from the $1.1 billion Insight Partners paid to acquire the startup last year. Insight Partners, which will continue to be Armis’ majority stakeholder, participated in the startup’s latest round alongside Brookfield. Georgian Partners and Alphabet Inc.’s CapitalG fund took part as well.

Armis has developed a software platform that enables companies to look for security issues in devices connected to the corporate network. Armis can detect threats across a broad range of endpoints, from employee laptops to industrial equipment and MRI machines. The startup uses security data crowdsourced from the more than 500 million devices in its installed base to identify common types of malicious activity its platform should look for. 

Armis detects threats with a so-called agentless approach that lends itself particularly well to “internet of things” devices. Typically, breach prevention tools collect security data by installing a software agent on each system. But installing another piece of software isn’t always possible on IoT devices, which tend to have limited hardware resources and often run specialized operating systems. Armis’ solution is to collect security data at the network level by analyzing the data traffic IoT devices generate.

The startup’s rapid sales momentum shows its approach is catching on. In addition to significant top-line growth, off an undisclosed base, Armis says the last two years have seen the size of its customer base more than quadruple. The startup’s software is now used by about a fifth of the companies on the Fortune 100 list as well as many others.

Demand for IoT security tools is only poised to grow in the coming years. International Data Corp. estimates that there will be more than 40 billion connected devices by 2025.

In an interview with CRN published today, Armis Chief Financial Officer Jonathan Carr disclosed that the startup expects to “double its business again” this year. The new $125 million funding round today should go a long way toward supporting that growth plan.  

Brookfield Technology Partners, the lead investor in the round, is a part of Brookfield Asset Management, a major alternative asset manager with over $575 billion in assets under management. Armis said the investment firm will provide it with an opportunity to bring its cybersecurity software to Brookfield-owned businesses in more than 30 countries worldwide.

The startup will hire 100 to 200 additional workers in the next year as part of its expansion efforts. 

Photo: Unsplash