Mobile and internet of things (IoT) application security company Arxan has acquired Apperian.
The deal, which is Arxan’s first acquisition, adds deeper mobile application management (MAM) capabilities to the company’s portfolio. Arxan focuses on the secure deployment and management of IoT, mobile, desktop and other applications.
“We have witnessed substantial growth in mobile and IoT applications investment by enterprises over the past few years, and we are excited to bring Apperian into the Arxan fold,” said Joe Sander, CEO of Arxan. “The application security and management capabilities Apperian provides are pivotal for organizations to securely deploy and manage their apps and we’re excited to offer our customers Apperian’s MAM products. This acquisition puts Arxan in a unique position with the strongest and most comprehensive solution for enterprise application protection and management for both mobile and IoT.”
Apperian was founded in 2009 and backed by a range of investors that include Bessemer Venture Partners, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, North Bridge Venture Partners and Converge Venture Partners. Its platform provides fine-grained security and dynamic policy controls at the individual app-level for deployments in the extended enterprise, where traditional mobile device management-based approaches are not possible or desired. This includes BYOD, contract workers and other unmanaged devices.
The company has been listed as a representative vendor in the Gartner Market Guide for MAM, and has enabled more than 2.5 million enterprise app installations and earned 12 granted and pending patents. Also, Apperian has seen its contracted user base grow by more than 180% in the last 24 months, the companies said.
According to Gartner, “Companies that simply want to manage apps, app licenses and operate a branded app store are well-served with stand-alone MAM tools. These tools are also a fit for large populations of nonemployees (like contractors) for whom the organization cannot insist upon installation of an MDM profile.”
Apperian will continue to operate as a standalone subsidiary of Arxan and will be led by long-time Apperian executive, Mark Lorion, who will become president and GM for the division.
“The Apperian team and I are thrilled to be joining Arxan,” said Lorion. “We share an ‘app-centric philosophy’ with Arxan and believe that mobile apps should be protected so that they can be safely distributed to any user leveraging any device. Enterprises are realizing the significant benefits of applying security and management at the app-level to maximize the secure adoption and reach of their mobile apps.”
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Photo © Jasek Dudzinski