Strata Identity, a Boulder, Colo.-based startup that is on a mission to help unify on-premises and cloud-based authentication and access systems for multi-cloud environments, today announced that it has raised $11 million through a Series A funding round led by Menlo Ventures with support from ForgePoint Capital.
With businesses increasingly using multiple cloud providers, managing identity and security policies across various cloud platforms can be challenging.
“The cloud has created an identity management crisis, with companies being forced to simultaneously manage on-premises and several different cloud provider systems to enforce security policies,” said Eric Olden, CEO of Strata.
Strata touts that it has “cracked the code” by allowing multiple cloud identity systems and older data center systems to be managed as one, and providing companies with the ability to centrally manage identity and security policies across different cloud platforms.
The company has built what it describes as a distributed identity orchestration platform that supports multi-cloud distributed apps, and enforces consistent policies across multiple cloud platforms.
Strata’s technology also helps move legacy applications to the cloud with little or no code rewrites through a catalog of “Zero Code Connectors” that simplify the process of connecting identity systems into orchestration workflows. It also allows customers to easily move apps across clouds and identity providers.
“Rather than rip and replace different identity systems, identity orchestration creates an abstraction layer that enables customers to mix and match identity technologies on different clouds easily, without rewriting apps, compromising security or user experience,” Olden explained.
“Strata is addressing a massive pain point for enterprises, which only gets worse as they migrate more applications to the cloud,” said Venky Ganesan, Partner at Menlo Ventures, and now a member of Strata’s board of directors. “The last time I got this excited about a security company was when I met the founders of Palo Alto Networks.”
Strata says the funding will be used scale R&D and support sales, marketing and customer support efforts.