Fleetsmith has raised $3.1 million in seed round funding led by Index Ventures and Harrison Metal. Individual investors participating in the round include: Arash Ferdowsi, co-founder of Dropbox, Kevin Mahaffey, founder and CTO of Lookout, Scott Cannon, co-founder of Mailbox, and Zane Lackey, co-founder and CSO of Signal Sciences.
Created by a team of former IT and security leaders from Dropbox and Wikia, Fleetsmith solves a growing industry need for easy to use computer management tools that are within reach for SMBs and younger companies, says Zack Blum, co-founder and CEO.
“We believe in a better world for IT, where a single click solves the traditional pains of managing computers,” he adds. “We built a product to democratize Mac management so that companies can focus on what makes them great.”
According to Blum, with IT teams historically accustomed to Windows-heavy environments, tools to manage Macs—even as they’ve become more ubiquitous—have not kept up. Current Mac management solutions are difficult to try and buy, overly complex, and require dedicated IT and security resources, he adds.
Fleetsmith is a fully-hosted, self-serve SaaS product. It has a powerful, intuitive interface that anyone can use to manage and proactively secure an entire fleet in minutes, says Blum. Fleetsmith gives companies the productivity and security benefits of computer management without requiring deep in-house IT engineering expertise or capital investment.
“We were drawn to Fleetsmith’s innovative approach to laptop management because it solves a long-standing problem for companies—how to securely manage Macs without IT expertise or setup overhead,” says Ilya Fushman, General Partner at Index Ventures. “It meets the needs of both IT and security departments, who increasingly need to work together to address device management and security. Combined with an outstanding user interface and modern infrastructure, Fleetsmith is a game changer for the device management industry.”
Administrators manage computers through the Fleetsmith web app, and employees see only the Fleetsmith Mac app. All apps, settings, and security preferences are managed securely over the Internet, and setup takes only minutes with a single-click G Suite (formerly Google Apps) integration.
“It’s rare to find an IT management solution that delivers a robust set of security capabilities while maintaining a first-class administrator and end-user experience,” saysKevin Mahaffey, Founder and CTO of Lookout. “Fleetsmith does it.”
Fleetsmith features include:
- Fully automated packaging and patch management: Apps are automatically packaged and updated across the entire fleet, with optional update enforcement deadlines.
- Fleet-wide OS upgrades: Upgrades to macOS Sierra (and future major releases) can be accomplished with one click.
- G Suite integration: Securely login and import users with G Suite.
- Device inventory: Centralized device inventory that eliminates spreadsheets and offers fleet health insights.
Fleetsmith is in beta and available to try and buy today. For more information, go to www.fleetsmith.com.
