StrongDM offers Zero Trust Privileged Access Management (PAM) products that apply continuous, policy-based controls by leveraging user actions and context to enhance enterprise security. Its platform scrutinizes each user action and context in real time, enabling immediate blocking or additional verification for risky activities. The company plans to roll out advanced policy-based control features in the coming months, including micro-authorizations and contextual enforcement designed for CISOs and security teams. Led by CEO Tim Prendergast, StrongDM emphasizes contextual enforcement for critical infrastructure security. The company is based in Palo Alto, California. Following the latest round, its total funding has reached $96M. strongDM is an enterprise-grade platform that combines authentication, authorization, networking, and observability into a single infrastructure access solution. It works with every infrastructure environment, including legacy and multi-cloud, and uses a protocol-aware proxy that produces a net new audit log for audit readiness out-of-the-box. The product enables least-privilege and role-based access controls at scale, automates workflows for technical staff, allows DevOps to treat access as code, and ensures access is locked down from instance spin up to tear down. The platform is used by Fortune 500 companies and fast-growing businesses such as Peloton, SoFi, Chime, Yext, and Better. Led by co-founder and CEO Elizabeth Zalman, the company plans to use new funding to expand operations and broaden its business reach. The recent $54M Series B strengthens its financial position to execute those growth initiatives. StrongDM offers a single sign-on client that mediates and audits developer access to databases, servers and cloud infrastructure. Users authenticate via existing SSO providers (e.g., Okta, OneLogin) and a local client grants and logs access, including a video replay of activity. The company charges a single plan at $50 per user per month. StrongDM says it has grown 3x over the last year and serves about 100 customers, including Hearst, SoFi, and Peloton. The team counts 35 employees and the company was cofounded in 2015 by Elizabeth Zalman, Justin McCarthy, and Schuyler Brown. Its product targets administering and auditing access across heterogeneous infrastructure without handing out usernames and passwords. strongDM is a Burlingame, CA-based control plane that reduces the work to manage permissions and audit activity for overburdened infrastructure teams. The platform recently expanded protocol support for Linux servers, Windows servers, and every database type. The company launched an open-source project called Comply to help customers prepare for SOC 2 compliance. strongDM serves clients including SoFi, Better Mortgage and Makespace. The company closed a $1M expansion financing round and will use the proceeds to expand its sales and marketing teams. strongDM is led by co-founder and CEO Elizabeth Zalman. strongDM provides a centralized tool for managing permissions, provisioning, and monitoring access to databases so companies can limit who can query or change sensitive data. The product enforces fine‑grained access controls, helps revoke access when employees leave, and records who is making queries or changes to detect misuse. strongDM says it originally offered broader analytics but shifted focus to preventing database leaks after customer demand. The company positions itself as an alternative for organizations without large security budgets or dedicated staff to cobble together open‑source tooling and database‑specific monitoring. strongDM aims to make it easy for engineers to manage access centrally while reducing the risk of internal leaks and outside hacks. CEO Elizabeth Zalman is quoted describing the product’s role in protecting the “crown jewels” of a business.

Total raised

$110M

Funding rounds

7

Latest round

Series C

Latest activity

May 2024