Cybersecurity startup Semperis Ltd. today announced that it has raised more than $200 million in funding from a group of investors led by KKR.

Ten Eleven Ventures, Paladin Capital Group, Atrium Health Strategic Fund and Tech Pioneers Fund participated as well. They were joined by multiple existing investors including Insight Partners.

Hoboken, New Jersey-based Semperis specializes in helping organizations secure their Active Directory and Azure AD deployments. Active Directory is a software product from Microsoft Corp. that enables a company to centrally manage which employees can access what business applications and how. Azure AD is the cloud-based version of the software. Active Directory and Azure AD are used by more than 90% of enterprises, according to Semperis.

Because it’s both widely used and plays a central role in companies’ cybersecurity efforts, Active Directory is a major target for hackers. Compromising a company’s Active Directory deployment can enable hackers to access sensitive business applications. Semperis provides two software products that help organizations avoid such cyberattacks.

“From day one, Semperis has been on a mission to be a force for good,” said Semperis co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Mickey Bresman. “With Semperis’ multilayered identity protection, organizations can fend off cyberattacks without being forced to choose between two bad options: paying the criminals or getting shut down.”

Semperis’ first product, Directory Services Protector, can scan an Active Directory or Azure AD deployment for security flaws that could be used by hackers to gain access. The platform spots both software vulnerabilities and misconfigured settings. It prioritizes security flaws based on their severity to help administrators tackle the most important issues first.

During a cyberattack, hackers often attempt to make malicious changes to a company’s Active Directory settings. Directory Services Protector detects malicious changes and notifies administrators. It can optionally roll back modifications automatically as soon as they are detected, which enables companies to respond to breaches faster. 

Some hacking campaigns, such as ransomware attacks, are designed to render companies’ Active Directory deployments unusable. That can lead to business disruptions because Active Directory plays a key role in facilitating employee access to work applications.

Semperis offers a product called Active Directory Forest Recovery that promises to help companies quickly restore deployments after a cyberattack. The product can decrease downtime by up to 90%, the startup says. It promises to reduce the usual recovery process, which involves more than two dozen manual steps, to a few clicks.

Semperis generated sales of $11.6 million in 2020 and has more than doubled its revenue since, Reuters reported today. The startup will use the newly announced funding round to accelerate its revenue momentum by growing its workforce. Additionally, Semperis plans to invest a “significant portion” of the funding in enhancing its Directory Services Protector product. 

Photo: Semperis