Avecto Wins $49M from JMI Equity to Grow Endpoint Security Strategy

As 2015 comes to an end, security still remains popular with investors, with yet another startup—endpoint security software firm Avecto—recently receiving $49 million in funding from JMI Equity to continue its growth.

Avecto, based in Manchester, United Kingdom, with a U.S. headquarters in Boston, offers an endpoint security and protection solution called Defendpoint that takes a three-pronged approach to keeping computers, devices and servers secure, according to the company. The technology uses privilege management to control and remove administrator rights; application control to dynamically allow approved applications to run; and a technique called sandboxing to isolate threats.

Using these security methods together in one endpoint security solution offers a new standard for endpoint prevention, according to the company, which said more than 5 million endpoints are currently protected by Defendpoint.

Avecto launched in 2008 and has grown steadily since then, with more than 600 enterprise clients and revenue growth of more than 50 percent on a compounded annual basis in the last five years, according to the company. JMI Equity is the first external company to fund the business, said Avecto Co-CEO Paul Kenyon in a press release.

“To this point we have created a unique endpoint suite of security products and built an enviable business all without any external funding,” he said. “The investment from JMI will enable us to significantly boost our capabilities as we add even more talent to all areas of the business in order to continue to deliver high-value solutions to our expanding customer base.”

Kenyon said that JMI’s “significant experience” in growing enterprise software companies will be “invaluable” to Avecto as it seeks new global customers and will help to expand and expedite its research and development plans to evolve the company’s product roadmap.

Indeed, endpoint security is a fast-growing market valued at $3 billion and the target of a flurry of recent new investment. Endpoint security startups Confer and Crowdstrike also recently received millions in funding, and longtime security leader Sophos recently purchased SurfRight to boost its endpoint protection strategy.

“Enterprises are struggling to provide security on their endpoints while simultaneously ensuring a positive user experience,” said Jit Sinha, general partner at JMI Equity.

The strength of Avecto’s technology and customer base are two reasons the firm decided to invest in the fledgling security company, added Suken Vakil, principal at JMI Equity.