Axis Security, which helps companies stay secure when employees work from home, raises $32M Series B led by Canaan Partners, bringing its total raised to $49M
Axis Security launched last year with the idea of helping customers to enable contractors and third parties to remotely access …
Context & Ripple Effects
Six months after emerging from stealth with a $17M Series A that positioned it as an alternative to VPNs for private application access, Axis Security has closed a $32M Series B led by Canaan Partners, lifting total disclosed funding to $49M. The round lands mid-pandemic, when the startup's core pitch — letting contractors and third parties remotely reach corporate apps without a VPN — matches exactly what forced-remote enterprises need.
First-order effects
- Axis Security gets the capital to scale the third-party remote-access product it launched last year, with Canaan Partners joining as lead investor.
- Enterprise buyers evaluating VPN replacement now have a better-funded Axis option alongside incumbent VPN gateways.
Second-order effects
- Direct rivals feel the pressure to match the raise: Banyan Security, selling a zero trust remote access client that grew users 300% in 2021, went on to pull in a $30M Series B of its own — evidence the category is drawing competing capital rather than consolidating early.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, corporate remote access structurally shifts from network-level VPN tunnels to per-application, identity-aware brokers, with vendors racing to own the policy layer that later entrants like Aryon Security are already building toward.
The trend: Enterprise security spending is migrating from VPN appliances toward zero trust remote-access platforms, with successive funding rounds setting the pace of VPN displacement.