NEW YORK — Venn Software has been awarded a patent for securing remote work on any computer. The company also has raised $29 million in Series A Funding, led by NewSpring to support its product development, growth, and customer demand. Venn is the first company to deliver an MDM-like solution for laptops. MDM (Mobile Device Management) is frequently used by companies to protect sensitive company data on employees’ personal phones.
In similar fashion, Venn can now secure remote work on a laptop that is unmanaged or Bring Your Own Device (BYOD). Co-Founder and CEO, David Matalon, says, “It’s a radically simplified and less costly new alternative to virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI).”
“Back in 2019, before the pandemic and the onslaught of remote-work, David and his team recognized the trends and mounting issues associated with a distributed workforce,” said Hart Callahan, NewSpring Partner. “Prior to Venn, the team helped hundreds of financial organizations overcome compliance and security issues for remote workers. Through this work, it became clear that traditional VDI technology was not up for the challenge of an evolved workforce. David’s vision was crystal clear and we’ve been happy to partner with Venn to bring this new important technology to market and support the company through its next phase of growth.”
As remote work has become more permanent and the workforce becomes more distributed, employee computing models previously suitable for “office-first” are less effective in a “remote-first” world. The blurring lines of personal and business time, and the rise of contractors, gig, and offshore workers, is pushing companies to look for new ways to secure remote work. Traditional solutions, like VDI, are costly and often frustrate users because of latency and slowness. Newer solutions, like Enterprise Browsers, have strict limitations around application use and network integration. Additionally, employees themselves are seeking more choice—they don’t want to have one computer for business and one for personal use. They want a single device, similar to how they use mobile.
In 2019, NewSpring invested in Venn based on Matalon’s vision of creating a completely new approach to securing remote work that solved the well-known challenges of VDI. The funding fueled development of the first purpose-built technology for Secure BYO-PC (Bring Your Own Personal Computer). Venn has filed for multiple patents on its intellectual property and was recently granted its first patent from the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The team spent the last year working closely with key customers to ensure the platform meets the security and compliance requirements for today’s distributed workforce, while providing a great user experience for employees. With the platform in production and customer demand accelerating, the Venn team is further validating that companies are eager to support a new way to secure remote work on any BYOD or unmanaged computer.
“Before Venn, companies had to ship laptops or rely on complex and costly VDI technology to support remote workers and stay compliant with regulatory requirements,” continued Matalon. “For more than two years, we have worked tirelessly to ensure our unique approach meets the demands of the modern remote workforce with a simple, easy to use platform. Instead of having to buy, manage, and lock down every PC, remote work can now easily be secured on any BYOD or unmanaged computer. Venn gives organizations more control, without any backend infrastructure. With this key patent granted, we’re excited to officially announce our longstanding capital partnership with NewSpring and look forward to continuing to drive innovation and growth.”
Venn’s approach to protecting company data is completely new. With Venn, work activity lives in a company-controlled Secure Enclave installed on the user’s computer, where all data is encrypted and access is managed. Similar to MDM, but for laptops, work applications run locally within the enclave – visually indicated by the Blue Border™ – where business activity is isolated and protected from any personal use on the same computer. Company data is protected without having to control the entire device. Venn’s patent (U.S. Patent No. 11,687,644) for a “Secure Visual and Computational Boundary for a Subset of Resources on a Computing Machine” is foundational, and according to Matalon, “It strengthens the company’s intellectual property and furthers our ability to expand our investments in Secure BYO-PC technology.”
