In the present day, a growing number of companies are embracing low-code and no-code tools to develop applications and workflows. These tools are designed for use by non-technical end users, but a significant challenge arises as these individuals often lack knowledge regarding fundamental security and governance principles.
Zenity, an early-stage Israeli startup, has devised a solution to address this issue, and they have just announced a successful $16.5 million Series A funding round to further develop their company.
Recognizing the potential pitfalls of the rapid application development facilitated by these tools, co-founders Ben Kliger and Michael Bargury founded Zenity. Kliger explained that while these technologies empower users to create solutions for themselves and their organizations, the downside is that many of these users lack technical and security expertise.
This knowledge gap can pose substantial problems for businesses. Zenity’s objective is to provide security teams within organizations with greater visibility into these new applications without hindering the users who build them. Bargury emphasized that securing an app, regardless of whether it’s developed by a professional programmer or a business user, involves similar considerations. However, there has been a lack of tools designed for the latter group.
Zenity connects to no-code/low-code tools via APIs, retrieving metadata and other information about the applications being created. It then scans for security issues and notifies security teams through a centralized dashboard when it identifies issues such as exposed data or mishandled identity. The teams can address these issues, use them as opportunities to educate citizen developers, automate the fixes, or send them back to the developers for resolution, depending on the organization’s approach and requirements.
Ben Kliger and Michael Bargury, who first met while working at Microsoft, observed this challenge with a large client heavily reliant on no-code tools. They decided to establish Zenity in 2021. While they have not disclosed customer numbers, the company has grown from its two co-founders to a team of 25 people and is actively expanding with the new funding.
Intel Capital led the $16.5 million funding round, with participation from existing investors Vertex Ventures and UpWest, as well as new investors Gefen Capital and B5. Under the terms of the agreement, Yoni Greifman, investment director at Intel Capital, will join Zenity’s board of directors.
