Fast-growing cybersecurity startup Saviynt Inc. today disclosed that it has raised $205 million in debt financing from AB Private Credit Investors.

In conjunction, Saviynt announced that founder Sachin Nayyar is returning to the role of chief executive. Nayyar was the startup’s CEO from its launch in 2011 to 2018. After leaving Saviynt, the executive launched another cybersecurity startup called Securonix Inc. that raised more than $1 billion in funding last year. 

Alongside Nayyar, technology executive and investor Paul Zolfaghari is joining Saviynt as president. Amit Saha, who has led Saviynt as CEO since 2018, will become the startup’s chief growth officer.

Organizations often use multiple software products to manage access to their applications. A company might use one tool to process login requests from business users and a second tool to manage administrator sign-ins. Moreover, there are situations where an application is accessed by not only employees but also other applications, which requires additional software tooling.

Saviynt offers a cloud platform that removes the need for multiple access management tools. The platform can process employee sign-ins across cloud and on-premises applications. It can also process more complicated access requests, such as those involving administrator accounts. 

User accounts belonging to administrators represent a major target for hackers because they often have access to sensitive applications. As a result, companies must take additional precautions to protect such accounts. Saviynt promises to reduce the amount of work involved in the task.

Using the platform, a company can impose time limits on administrative accounts’ system access. A company could, for example, make a firewall’s settings console accessible only when configuration changes need to be made and block login attempts at other times. This approach reduces the chance of a breach in the event hackers comprise an administrator’s account.

Saviynt also offers several complementary features. The company’s platform enables companies to store administrative login credentials in an isolated software vault, as well as change passwords at fixed time intervals. If hackers nevertheless find a way to sign into an administrator account, the platform makes it possible to block login sessions manually. 

There are cases where business applications are accessed by not only employees but also other software systems. A revenue forecasting tool, for example, might require the ability to extract data from a company’s sales database. 

As part of its platform, Saviynt offers tools for processing access requests from applications. The company’s platform enables administrators to detect access requests that may represent a cybersecurity risk. Additionally, it can automatically approve routine application interactions that aren’t likely to cause a data breach.

“Modern enterprises now realize they require a converged approach to identity security, one that is agile, cloud-based and will seamlessly scale to manage and mitigate risk,” Nayyar said. “Saviynt anticipated this need when it was founded in 2011. Today, the company is positioned to meet this demand and accelerate our disruption of legacy identity security providers.”

Saviynt claims to have doubled both its revenue and customer base since 2020. Using the debt financing announced today, the startup will grow its partner ecosystem and build new features. Saviynt plans to roll out user experience optimizations, as well as new capabilities for processing application access requests that involve connected devices.

Image: Savyint