Enterprise Startup AirWatch Just Grabbed A Massive $200 Million Series A Investment

Technology Association of GeorgiaAlan Dabbiere, founder, chairman, AirWatchWe've told you about a trend where startups are raising truly jaw-dropping amounts of money in their first Series A rounds. Here's another one: Today enterprise startup AirWatch announced a $200 million Series A, lead by Insight Venture Partners.

This is the biggest investment in an enterprise company so far in 2013, our research shows.

AirWatch plays in the hot enterprise field known as "mobile device management." Others in that market include Good Technology (which has been undergoing a management shakeup), MobileIron and SAP's Afaria.

MDM is part of the whole trend where employees buy their own smartphones, tablets, laptops and use them for work. (The buzzword for that is BYOD which stands for "bring your own device.")

Corporations that let employees choose their own devices need a way to identify them, put corporate software on them, make sure they are secure, etc. MDM software performs these tasks.

Founders John Marshall and Alan Dabbiere grew AirWatch from a scrappy startup launched in 2003 to a top MDM player with over 6,000 customers without a dime of VC cash.

Dabbiere had the resources to bootstrap the company. He previously founded another enterprise software company, Manhattan Associates, and took it public in 1998. It currently trades at a healthy $65+/share with a market cap of $1.35 billion.