Aembit brings identity management to non-human workloads

Aembit is one of Network World’s 7 network security startups to watch for 2024. Its platform aims to secure access between non-human workloads using a policy-based, identity-driven approach.

Aembit at a glance

• Founded: 2021
• What they do: Automate and secure workload identities and access management
• Funding: $18 million
• Headquarters: Silver Spring, Maryland
• CEO: David Goldschlag
• Competitors include: Astrix Security, Oasis Security, Natoma, and Token Security
• Customers include: Snowflake

Why Aembit is a startup to watch

According to research from Fortune Business Insights, the identity and access management (IAM) market is currently worth approximately $18.58 billion and is projected to reach $56.98 billion by 2032. However, Aembit notes that workload identities (applications, scripts, services, etc.) now outnumber human identities by a large margin.

Despite this fact, non-human identities (NHI) typically receive significantly less investment compared to IAM for the workforce. Aembit contends that non-human access is typically secured using static, easily stolen, and often hard-coded credentials. As businesses continue to rapidly adopt cloud technologies and automate processes, enterprises must cope with an exploding number of access requests among workloads, leading to increased complexity and security risks.

To address this problem, Aembit has developed an IAM solution, Aembit Workload IAM, that secures access between non-human workloads using a policy-based, identity-driven, and secrets-free approach that works across clouds, SaaS, and data centers. Aembit manages and automates the entire workload-to-workload access workflow, from discovery to enforcement to audits, via a central access control plane.

The startup has raised $18 million in seed funding from Ballistic Ventures, 1011 Ventures, Okta Ventures, and Crowdstrike Falcon Fund. Co-founders David Goldschlag (CEO) and Kevin Sapp (CTO) previously co-founded New Edge Labs, which was acquired by Netskope in 2019.

Aembit

Read more about network security startups

• Astrix Security manages non-human entities across networks and clouds
• Corelight boosts AI-driven network detection and response
• Dazz aims to unify security remediation with AI-driven platform
• dope.security puts a new spin on secure web gateways
• Mitiga zeros in on cloud and SaaS security
• Qevlar AI tackles alert fatigue with autonomous investigation

Jeff Vance is the founder of Startup50.com, a site that discovers, analyzes, and ranks tech startups. Follow him on Twitter, @JWVance, or connect with him on LinkedIn.