Mobile device management startup AirWatch has raised a massive series A round of $200 million, led by Insight Venture Partners.
The startup competes with others such as Good Technology and SAP’s Afaria in the mobile device management space. This rides the current “bring your own device” (BYOD) trend, where companies are supporting employee-owned devices such as smartphones and laptops in the workplace. The entrance of new and varied devices into the enterprise can be a mess to manage for companies in terms of plugging the security holes created by the devices accessing the company network.
Mobile device management companies come in to help that process, and many also promise to harmonize the implementation of internal software on employee devices across the various platforms they run on.
The investment in AirWatch is the biggest in an enterprise company so far this year, according to Business Insider.
So far, AirWatch has been bootstrapped by founders John Marshall and Alan Dabbiere since its launch in 2003. It has about 6,000 customers, and said it adds about 500 new ones each month. These include Lowe’s, Toyota, and United and Delta Airlines.