Story of Silverfort: Agentless Zero-Trust Platform for Secure Access

Story of Silverfort: Agentless Zero-Trust Platform for Secure Access Across Networks and Cloud Environments

Early Foundations in Cybersecurity

Hed Kovetz built his expertise through unique experiences in both the military and private sectors. He served as a Group Leader in Unit 8200, Israel’s elite cyber intelligence unit, where he gained deep technical and leadership skills. Later, he worked in product leadership at Verint, preparing him for the entrepreneurial journey ahead.

Meeting the Co-Founders

Around this time, Hed joined forces with two other experts, Yaron Kassner and Matan Fattal. All three shared a strong background in cybersecurity and cryptography. Their vision was to solve one of the most pressing challenges of the digital era: securing identity across complex IT environments.

Founding Silverfort

In 2016, the three co-founders officially launched Silverfort. Based in Boston, Massachusetts, the company set out to build an agentless authentication and zero-trust platform. Hed Kovetz stepped into the role of CEO, determined to transform how enterprises approached identity security.

Defining the Mission

The team believed that identity should become the new security perimeter. As cyber threats evolved, they saw gaps in existing Identity and Access Management (IAM) tools. Too many systems were left exposed, and traditional solutions could not protect critical resources. Silverfort’s mission became clear: bring identity security everywhere.

Breakthrough Innovation

By 2018, Silverfort had developed its patented Runtime Access Protection (RAP) technology. This innovation integrated seamlessly with existing IAM infrastructure, offering unmatched visibility and inline enforcement. It allowed businesses to secure not just cloud applications but also legacy systems, service accounts, and command-line tools—resources once thought “unprotectable.”

 Story of Silverfort: Agentless Zero-Trust Platform for Secure Access Across Networks and Cloud Environments#startup#entrepreneur#networth#investor#

Expanding Use Cases

Silverfort’s platform soon proved its versatility. It supported multi-factor authentication (MFA), risk-based authentication (RBA), and zero-trust policies without requiring software agents or system changes. This meant enterprises could secure sensitive resources across IT, IoT, cloud, and machine-to-machine access, creating a true end-to-end identity protection platform.

Recognition and Awards

In 2019, Silverfort began receiving global recognition. The company was named a Gartner Cool Vendor, a 451 Research FireStarter, and was featured on CRN’s Emerging Vendors List. It also won industry awards, including the Most Innovative Adaptive Authentication InfoSec Award and the Cybersecurity Excellence Award for MFA.

CNBC Upstart 100 Spotlight

That same year, Silverfort earned a spot on CNBC’s Upstart 100 list, which celebrates companies shaping the future. Hed Kovetz described the honor as proof of their mission’s importance. With trends like cloud adoption, IoT, and BYOD, he highlighted the growing difficulty of verifying identities in a perimeter-less world—and Silverfort’s role in solving it.

Rapid Growth and Trust

Through 2020 and 2021, Silverfort expanded quickly, gaining the trust of more than 1,000 organizations worldwide, including several Fortune 50 companies. Its AI-driven risk analysis enabled adaptive authentication, helping enterprises reduce their attack surface, prevent breaches, and meet compliance standards.

Strong Financial Backing

In 2022, Silverfort secured significant funding, raising $223 million in a Series D round. Investors included Greenfield Partners, Brighton Park Capital, and Citi Ventures. This funding allowed the company to accelerate research, expand globally, and further strengthen its identity security platform.

A Comprehensive Identity Platform

By this time, Silverfort had become the only end-to-end identity security platform capable of securing all identities—both human and machine—across on-premises and cloud environments. Its adaptive, agentless architecture closed gaps left by traditional IAM tools, protecting systems across industries and geographies.

Looking Ahead: Identity Security Done Right

Today, Silverfort continues to push the boundaries of identity security. With Hed Kovetz at the helm, the company is helping enterprises worldwide eliminate blind spots and achieve zero trust. Silverfort’s motto—“no compromises, no blind spots, no limits”—reflects its vision to redefine identity security for the future.

Timeline:

• 2012 – Rick Song & Charles Yeh meet during summer internship.
• 2012–2017 – Work at Square (Song) and Dropbox (Yeh) on identity teams.
• 2017 – Yeh proposes starting a company in identity space.
• 2018 – Persona founded in San Francisco.
• 2018–2020 – Platform development with KYC/AML tools.
• 2020–2021 – Adoption by Coursera, Brex, and others.
• 2021 – Raised $217M Series C funding.
• 2022–Present – Expansion and continued innovation in identity verification.

 Story of Silverfort: Agentless Zero-Trust Platform for Secure Access Across Networks and Cloud Environments#startup#entrepreneur#networth#investor#