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A Message From the Founders

We’re excited to introduce Axis Security! Application access for employees, partners, and other stakeholders is an essential component of an efficient, modern organization. Axis Security emerged from stealth mode today to solve this problem with a new approach designed to make private application access amazingly simple.

We have been working hard these last 18 months to deliver on our vision of eliminating the complexity of private application access with a solution that is simple, secure, and managed.  Today we announced the launch of Application Access Cloud ™ along with our Series A funding round featuring world-class investors, and the validation of multiple Fortune 500 customers.

The Founders

Gil and I met in the Israeli Defense Forces Unit 8200, the Intelligence Corps unit specializing in cybersecurity. After serving together for five years, we remained friends but initially went our separate ways to begin our business and entrepreneurial careers.

Before Axis Security, I joined as an early employee at Fireglass where we developed “browser isolation” technology that created virtual websites enabling users to browse the web without running any code inside the internal network. The company was very successful and was eventually acquired by Symantec. Gil went on to co-found and serve as CTO at Cool Cousin, a cloud-based platform for travelers looking to unlock outstanding travel experiences. He’s once again in those same roles, as co-founder and CTO.

The Spark

Gil and I often talked about our careers and experiences in the business. Those discussions centered around how businesses provide access to applications for all of their stakeholders and how it is fundamentally and fatally flawed. In order to connect a specific user with a specific set of applications, the user is transported inside the network all the way to the doorstep of the application, getting there through a dedicated tunnel, better known as a VPN. This approach is not only cumbersome for the user, but it also presents several security challenges and does not make sense anymore.

VPN’s provide access based on a binary yes/no decision at the start of the session. Additionally, most enterprise networks are flat, so once inside, someone with malicious intent could move around easily and gain potential access to nearly every network-connected asset.

Why not use the cloud to provide better user experience, better visibility, control, and security. Why not separate the user from the network and the application? This conversation was the spark that launched what would become Axis Security.

The Investors

Everyone in the Israeli cybersecurity industry knows Gili Raanan. Gili is a General Partner in Sequoia, seed investor of Moovit, Adallom, SafeBreach, Fireblocks, Armis and many more. His latest venture was establishing a founder-backed cybersecurity fund, Cyberstarts. To Gil and I, this was the goal, an investment from Gili Raanan.

The process was blazing fast, and very intense, but by the time it was over and we got the offer, we knew Gili was the right partner for us. Gili opened so many doors for us, helping us meet with 40 Fortune 500 CISO’s. These conversations were invaluable, helping us understand their challenges when it comes to Enterprise application access, and filling us with conviction and confidence that we were on to something. We were able to start from such a solid foundation and with great confidence that we were going to solve the problem of secure application access for the modern enterprise, for employees, partners and third-party’s, anywhere, on any device.

Vision and culture

With the backing of proven investors, we set out to build a world-class company.  We decided to establish a foundation based on 3 key principles: 1.) Culture; based on teamwork, transparency, accountability, and perseverance, 2.) Talent; attracting the best people for every role, understanding that great people attract great people and it becomes the hot place to be, and 3.) Customer focus; make the complex simple, and always be learning and improving.

Now eighteen months into development, we’ve delivered an elegant, modern, cloud-native solution, validated by leading security practitioners. Axis Security enters the market with a new, unique alternative for secure application access anywhere.

Contact us to learn more.

Dor & Gil

About the Author

Dor Knafo
Dor Knafo

CEO & Co-founder

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