Venafi, Inc. is a privately held cybersecurity company that develops software to secure and protect cryptographic keys and digital certificates. Its enterprise key and certificate management and security products are certificate authority independent and manage security instruments such as Transport Layer Security digital certificates and Secure Shell keys. Venafi does not sell encryption and it is not a Certificate Authority. Venafi reports a customer base of public- and private-sector entities, mostly Global 5000 organizations that operate in a variety of industries. Venafi is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, and has offices in California and the United Kingdom.
History
Russell Thornton and Ben Hodson, both University of Washington graduates, cofounded Venafi's predecessor company in 1998 after recognizing that a recent consulting project had broader commercial application. The cofounders incorporated the company as IMCentric in Washington State on October 26, 2000. Seeking an infusion of angel capital, Hodson and Thornton moved the company to Utah where they were joined by Jayson Seegmiller. Hodson led engineering while Thornton and Seegmiller focused on business and operations. An application was filed to conduct business as IMCentric, Inc. in Orem, Utah on March 18, 2003. Thornton filed to change IMCentric's state of incorporation from Washington to Delaware on April 1, 2004. Early 2005 saw the company's leadership and name change: its name from IMCentric to Venafi and its leadership from Thornton and Seegmiller to Trell Rohovit, William Clay Epstein, and Darren Denning. The company also moved its headquarters to Sandy, Utah in 2005. Jeff Hudson replaced Rohovit in October, 2010, and the company moved to Salt Lake City, UT in 2013.
Company name
Venafi is a made-up word created by combining two Latin roots—Vena and Fides. Venafi secures the root of trust—the encryption keys and certificates.
In April 2014, SC Magazine Awards 2014 Europe named Venafi a finalist in its Best Encryption Solution and Best Risk/Policy Management Solution categories.
In 2013, global media company, Red Herring, included Venafi software on its 2013 Top 100 North America: Winners, listing Venafi in the top North American private companies.
In February 2013, SC Magazine Awards Europe 2013 named Venafi Director a finalist in its Best Encryption Solution and Best Security Management categories.
In 2013, Info Security awarded Venafi Encryption Director Certificate Manager a Bronze Winner in the Risk Management category.
In February 2012, Venafi was nominated by eWeek Labs as one of thirteen “Hottest Security Vendors” at the RSA Conference in San Francisco.
In February 2012, Venafi Encryption Director 6: Certificate Manager won Info Security's Global Excellence award in the Risk Management category.
In 2011, Venafi Encryption Director won a spot in the Info Security's 2011 Global Excellence Award's finalist list in the Policy Management category.
In 2011, SC Magazine awarded Venafi Encryption Director a place on its SC Magazine Awards 2011 Europe finalist list.
In November 2011, Gartner, an information technology research and advisory company, acknowledged in its research note “X.509 Certificate Management: Avoiding Downtime and Brand Damage” that “Venafi is the leader in X.509 certificate management for internal and external systems and applications. Unlike certificate authority certificate management solutions, Venafi supports virtually all certificate issuers natively and can renew certificates from nearly any type of certificate issuer, providing flexibility for complex heterogeneous environments composed of certificates issued by various certificate authorities.”
In 2010, SC Magazine awarded Venafi its 2010 Industry Innovator distinction.
In April 2010, Gartner named Venafi a “Cool Vendor in Data and Infrastructure Protection.”
In 2009, Venafi Director won Info Security's 2009 Global Excellence award in the Best New Software Product category.
In October 2007, Venafi was listed as one of the 10 IT security companies to watch by InfoWorld.
In October 2004, IMCentric, Venafi's predecessor, was recognized as one of Utah's top 20 High-Tech companies by Utah Business Magazine.
