Alpin, provider of SaaS monitoring and management tools for IT administrators, was launched today by founders Julien Denaes, Benjamin Soulier and Mark Evans. Alpin's purpose-built dashboard helps IT admins discover shadow IT and addresses the demand for automated SaaS management tools for both Google and Microsoft environments. To-date, Alpin's funding is more than $1M, led by Rockies Venture Club, and will be used to expand product features and benefits and increase new customer adoption; Nebraska Angels, Plains Angels, Keiretsu Capital, Rockies Venture Fund, Techstars and individual angel investors have also participated.

The prevalence of shadow IT in the enterprise increased significantly alongside the growing adoption of SaaS: enterprises have an average of 1,071 cloud services in use, many of which they are unaware of. While some of these SaaS tools are benign, others are potentially malicious and can cripple an organization. Inspired by the significance of shadow IT and the skyrocketing costs of SaaS, Alpin's dashboard enables IT administrators to have a comprehensive view of their organization's SaaS ecosystem, discover and capture cost savings of up to 30 percent, and initiate real governance over the hundreds or thousands of SaaS applications (free or paid, web or mobile) and devices being used.

When designing the dashboard, CEO Julien Denaes committed to creating an easy-to-use, sophisticated management system that reveals every application, with unique control features like "Blacklisting" (blocking admin-selected SaaS applications from use) and "Lockdown" (blacklisting every existing and/or new SaaS app in an emergency situation), in addition to granular user-specific and app-specific controls.

"We created Alpin to help companies understand, monitor and safeguard their true SaaS landscape, which is much, much bigger than they think," said Denaes. "Other SaaS management tools focus only on costs, while Alpin is the one and only dashboard that also provides detailed activity monitoring and security alerts - as well as the ability to take control of the situation, not just report on it."

Alpin's product features include:

Fast deployment in just two clicks, with no installation required
Rapid discovery and management of all users and SaaS subscriptions
Security alerts to risky activity and dangerous permissions
Unified view of multiple application accounts on a single pane
Activity logging, license negotiation, budget forecasting and reporting
Reduced subscription costs by up to 30 percent
"Alpin has been impactful for SendGrid, enabling us to drill down and understand the usage and adoption of our core systems, and speeding up the process of identifying the owners of shadow IT systems," said Jeff Rideout, Software Licensing & Procurement Specialist at SendGrid, an early adopter of Alpin. "Alpin's dashboard is incredibly comprehensive, as it tracks high level trends and at the same time get as granular as we want when it comes to identifying potential risks."

"Alpin's SaaS management tool has allowed Sphero to more easily visualize and manage SaaS spend, find pockets of shadow IT, as well as track subscription renewals," said JD Snodgrass, IT Manager at Sphero. "We want our team focusing on innovative solutions, not worrying about SaaS subscriptions. Alpin allows us to do just that."

"As the enterprise cloud drives exponential SaaS growth, there is a clear need for a product designed specifically to help companies manage all of the SaaS applications," said Peter Adams, Rockies Venture Club Executive Director. "Alpin's team and their unique approach to SaaS management immediately drew our attention and puts them at the forefront of a significant market opportunity. We look forward to seeing how Alpin shapes the future of this emerging market."

For more information about Alpin, visit Alpin.io.

About Alpin

Alpin created the most comprehensive SaaS management tool that enables companies of all sizes to monitor and manage their SaaS ecosystems. Founded by Julien Denaes, Benjamin Soulier and Mark Evans, Alpin allows organizations to fully understand and govern the array of SaaS applications and services they use via a single dashboard while reducing spend on SaaS subscription costs. In just two clicks, Alpin provides insights into companies' security, expenditures and user activity, logs history for audit, compliance and reporting, and allows admins to take control by selective deprovisioning, application blacklisting, or full-scale lockdown. Alpin is a graduate of the Techstars Barclays accelerator, and is based in Boulder, Colorado.