1Password, the password management software developer owned by AgileBits, today announced that it has acquired Kolide, an endpoint security platform, for an undisclosed sum.
Kolide founder and CEO Jason Meller and all 30 Kolide employees will join 1Password “as an intact team,” according to 1Password CEO Jeff Shiner. Meller became 1Password's vice president of products.
“A hybrid workforce that can work anywhere, on any device is here to stay, and the result of this change is having a major impact on security,” 1Password CEO Jeff Shiner told TechCrunch in an email interview. . . “Employees are working with a mix of personal and work devices, and most organizations don't have a good understanding of how to securely access applications and data on those devices. Kolide is the only company on the market with a device security and contextual access management solution of its kind that can check the health status of a device in real-time at the point of authentication before granting access to corporate applications. ”
Kolide, based in Boston, Massachusetts, occupies the fast-growing global endpoint cybersecurity space, which is expected to reach $23 billion in value by 2027. Competitors include Huntress, Automox, and Uptycs, the last of which is particularly well-funded.
Kolide's platform, which Meller co-founded with Mike Arpaia and Zach Wasserman in 2016, provides security-related endpoint alerts, remediation, and more via Slack. Customers and their employees get features like context for security issues, self-healing instructions for Mac, Windows, and Linux devices, and a personalized privacy center. All of this is built on the open-source, Facebook-led universal endpoint agent project Osquery.
Kolide attempts to prevent unknown endpoint devices from accessing corporate apps. When the platform detects a “risky” device attempting to access a company's network, it blocks the attempt and recommends steps to the device user to restore the device to a “trusted state.”
Kolide's customer base of over 250 at one point included 1Password (perhaps coincidentally), as well as Databricks, Robinhood, Discord, and Anduril. Prior to the acquisition, Kolide successfully extracted his $26.6 million in venture capital from OpenView, Matrix, and other VCs and angels.
“If end users are honestly informed and motivated, Kolide will be the most effective tool security-minded organizations have ever had against perhaps the world's most subtle and devastating security threats.” It's built on the principle of being a great resource,” Mellor told TechCrunch via email. “We quickly realized that we had created something special and needed to get it to as many people as possible. 1Password is built on the same values that have enabled us to develop our product. “We are a company that not only embodies this, but also has the resources to bring end-user-focused security solutions to every organization on the planet.”
Kolide is 1Password's third acquisition, following Dutch cybersecurity company SecretHub and Texas-based passkey tools provider Passage, and comes at a successful moment in the company's history.
As of last September, 1Password had annual recurring revenue of more than $250 million from a customer base of more than 100,000 organizations. Despite facing headwinds from the downturn in the cybersecurity market, 1Password bucked the trend and raised hundreds of millions in venture funding at a multibillion-dollar valuation.
Shiner said the company plans to add 250 jobs this year.
“1Password is focused on giving businesses the tools they need to make it easy for employees to keep their passwords secure,” Shiner added. “Kolide extends this functionality even further, making it easier for employees to keep their devices secure. By bringing Kolide’s ability to manage application access based on device health to 1Password, It creates an opportunity to build low-friction, high-productivity security tools to manage access in the work environment.”