Behind the Investment: Perimeter 81 – Simplifying Network Security for the Modern and Remote Workforce

With Insight’s outbound sourcing efforts, we often build relationships with founders and management teams for 2-3+ years before making an investment. Not only are we able to closely track a company’s progress and evolving market dynamics, but we are also able to develop a working relationship to exhibit our truly differentiated value-add from the outset. By leveraging our ScaleUp engine Onsite, a team of more than 60 operating experts, Insight can gain an appreciation for the different functions of a business and distinguish where we can be most supportive. At the same time, management teams experience firsthand what Insight can bring to the table as a partner.

We are excited to lead Perimeter 81’s $40M Series B, after beginning a relationship with the company over two years ago.

In October 2019, Insight announced the opening of our first international office in Tel Aviv. This did not mark the start of our presence in Israel, having previously backed many Israeli businesses including SentinelOne, Aqua, Sisense, Monday.com, Lightricks, Checkmarx and many others. Yet, the opening of our Tel Aviv office marked a commitment to “doubling down” on the Israeli tech ecosystem and leveraging a physical presence to build relationships even earlier with founders.

We first met the Perimeter 81 team (Amit, Sagi, and Ohad) at their office in Tel Aviv in February 2019. Our deep ties to the Israeli tech ecosystem were immediately clear, as Sagi mentioned having served in the IDF with the founder of Monday.com. As we started to dig into the Perimeter 81 story, it was evident that the team had a grand vision: The traditional firewall market would disappear as the workforce gradually became more mobile, creating room for a cloud-based alternative, the software-defined perimeter. The team estimated that by 2020, mobile workers would make up nearly 75% of the US workforce. In early 2019, it was clear that the market was moving in this direction, yet 75% seemed like a lofty estimation. Nonetheless, Perimeter 81 was in the early days of launching a B2B offering, commonly referred to as a secure access service edge (SASE) or zero trust network access (ZTNA) solution. Like many other scrappy founders, the Perimeter 81 team had built a consumer VPN offering called SaferVPN to fund their B2B offering’s development. With less than 20 customers using the B2B offering, we agreed to keep in touch and continue to build a relationship.

The Perimeter 81 team had incredible foresight to recognize the macro shift to remote work and the effects it would have on network security. The only comment that could be refuted was their description of the shift as “gradual.” With the onset of COVID-19 in March 2020, the shift that once seemed gradual, accelerated exponentially overnight. With hundreds of thousands of companies forced to work remotely, the concept of securing a corporate network in an office building with on-premise VPN servers became foreign. For the businesses that quickly embraced a shift to remote work, CISOs and security leads started to rethink their approach to network security. Perimeter 81 quickly stood out as a clear winner for businesses looking to implement a ZTNA or SASE offering that is cost-effective, fast to implement, and easy to use.

In the few short years since its founding, the Perimeter 81 team has built an incredible product, with strong integrations with AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, Okta, Salesforce, and others. They also developed a powerful partnership with SonicWall, whereby Perimeter 81 integrates with SonicWall’s Capture Cloud Platform and real-time breach detection and prevention technologies. With such strong tech chops, the product has largely sold itself, with much of the company’s growth being driven by inbound demand. Today, Perimeter 81 supports hundreds of high growth businesses across industries, with a strong presence in technology, finance, retail & e-commerce, government, education, and healthcare. 

Looking ahead, Insight is excited to partner with Perimeter 81 as they transition from a startup to a ScaleUp. With a differentiated product, massive global market opportunity, and truly special team, we could not be more thrilled to be along for the journey.