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Directory-As-A-Service Company JumpCloud Experiences Massive Growth

Changes to IT processes have been evolving since JumpCloud launched in 2012. During its early days, most companies used Microsoft Active Directory in a Windows-based setting, but now there are multiple operating systems, web applications, and the cloud. This explosion of technologies has required a different way of thinking about directory structures, and that’s what JumpCloud does best.

Headquartered in Denver, the cloud-based platform centralizes and simplifies identity management. It gives users one set of credentials to securely access their systems, apps, networks, and file servers regardless of the platform, protocol, provider, or location.

Since the pandemic forced most of the world into lockdown in March, the demand for JumpCloud has accelerated, thanks to its unique offerings.

“Obviously now with COVID, all these changes made it much more difficult for IT to connect their users to all the resources that they needed,” said JumpCloud Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer Rajat Bhargava. “And to us that’s one of the most critical tasks that an IT organization has is making their team productive.”

JumpCloud has grown to a team of 3,000 employees, opened its new office in Denver in 2019, and this month announced an impressive Series E funding round of $75 million.

The firm’s venture funding total is now $165 million, including the completion of a $50-million fundraising round in 2019. The round was led by BlackRock with participation from existing investor General Atlantic.

The news comes as the company reveals the release of a new feature that allows IT administrators to utilize existing local user accounts and onboard their devices in the cloud directory platform.

The JumpCloud Directory Platform enables users to centrally manage authoritative identities and extend them to virtually all resources, including applications, cloud infrastructure, and networks, across Mac, Windows, and Linux devices. With this new feature, people can take over existing local user accounts on Mac and Windows devices and extend secure credentials to them, no matter their naming convention. These accounts and user permissions, as well as security configurations can all be managed from JumpCloud.

JumpCloud intends to use the new injection of funding to hire 500 more employees and expand product development, marketing, and sales globally.