Knox Systems, a provider of AI-managed cloud for federal customers, announced on 17 March 2026 that it had raised $25m in Series A funding led by B Capital. M12, Microsoft's venture fund, Okta Ventures, MongoDB Ventures, Hearst Ventures and Benchstrength also took part,, according to the company's press release and Washington Technology.
The announcement came nine months after a $6.5m seed round in June 2025 led by Felicis, with Ridgeline and Firsthand VC. No valuation was disclosed.
“We are on a mission to get more cutting-edge technology into the hands of the government.”Irina Denisenko, founder and CEO, Knox Systems
What Knox does
FedRAMP is the US government's security standard for cloud services. Knox says traditional authorisation often costs $2m to $5m up front, with annual costs above $1m. Its pre-authorised environment, the company says, cuts first-year costs by 90% and gets vendors authorised in about 90 days. These are company claims.
Washington Technology reported that Knox holds 15 FedRAMP authorisations to operate, drawn from its work supporting Adobe, with a 16th in progress. It then opened those authorisations to commercial companies that find FedRAMP too daunting alone. The outlet reported that Knox charges $500,000 a year for the service plus pass-through hosting costs, against $3m or more to pursue authorisation independently.
Chief executive Irina Denisenko told the outlet that over 20 companies had been through FedRAMP with Knox or were in the process, including Celonis, Outsystems and Procurement Sciences.
A customer example
Aubrey Vaughan, vice president of strategy and business development for the public sector at Celonis, said that by partnering with Knox the company achieved authorisation in less than 90 days. Denisenko said Celonis had tried for years to get on FedRAMP and had done the technical work but could not find a federal sponsor. Since certification in August, Celonis has deployed its product at multiple agencies.
Denisenko added that Palantir is the only company offering a similar service, and that Knox's neutrality, because it does not compete with its customers, is a selling point.
What the money is for
Knox said the funding will expand federal authorisation capacity and also support commercial adoption, with the aim of making it the platform that runs production environments for well-known commercial brands. The press release cited government figures: the US spends $100bn a year on software, yet fewer than 500 software-as-a-service applications are available to the government out of more than 30,000 commercially available.
Washington Technology quoted Denisenko comparing Knox to a condominium complex: customers buy a unit instead of buying land, getting permits and hiring a builder, while the building supplies the infrastructure, security and compliance. She said the company is on a mission to get cutting-edge technology to government, a pitch she tied to an administration leaning heavily on modern technology.
Howard Morgan, chair and general partner of B Capital, said Knox offers a meaningful alternative to the legacy FedRAMP process, letting vendors unlock federal revenue in months at a fraction of the cost.
The sources did not state Knox's headcount or headquarters city.
Company website: knoxsystems.com