Acronis has gained $250m in funding with a third funding round putting it at a $2.5bn valuation – the fourth backup industry funding event in four months taking the total raised past $400m. The firm said growing its partner network was critical to the company’s strategy for rapid growth.
The most recent previous Acronis round was for $147m in 2019 when its valuation went past $1bn. It has now raised a total of $408m.
The company will spend the cash on expanding its partner network, particularly managed service providers (MSPs). It offers them a cloud-native “MSP in a box” solution, with integrated backup, disaster recovery, cybersecurity, remote management, and workflow tools. Another chunk will go on developing its Cyber Protect security and protection product portfolio.
Serguei “SB” Beloussov, founder and CEO of Acronis, said: “Our goal is to develop market-leading technology and help our partners grow their profits, while providing the best protection for their clients.”
Acronis will invest in staff resources, expanding its global sales, partner account management and partner success teams, and hiring new technical talent for its research and development centres in Bulgaria, Israel, and Singapore, as well as Switzerland and the United States.
The company has been engaged in a massive Global-Local data centre building project. This involves micro data centres as well as standard ones in what we understand is a hub-and-spoke design. Acronis has evolved the concept of micro data centres to support edge computing and said it was going to add 100 micro data centres to its global network in October 2020.
The micro data centres offer local, cost-efficient, bandwidth efficient, and low latency cloud services to its global partners, and help Acronis support emerging markets.
Acronis acquired Synapsys, a long-time partner located in Cape Town, South Africa, in March. Synapsys distributes Acronis Cyber Protection products through the service provider channel. This was part of of the company’s accelerated growth plan and its fourth acquisition in the past 18 months.
At the time Serguei “SB” Beloussov, Acronis founder and CEO, said: “At the same time, Africa is becoming a strategic growth opportunity for Acronis and acquiring Synapsys provides us with a permanent presence on the continent.”
Acronis is continuing to examine potential acquisitions.
Now, with truckloads of new cash, Acronis will expand its support for its cloud partners, with additional sales and marketing resources, and promised faster and localised technical support, dedicated partner success managers, and local data centres in 111 locations worldwide.
The funding rate for data protection companies is rising. So far this year:
- Druva announced a $147m funding round in April,
- HYCU raised $87.5m in March,
- OwnBackup raised $167.5m in January.
Adding in Acronis’s round that makes a total of $652m in four months.
We understand the overall driver is the world-wide expansion of data, coupled with the rise of cloud computing and malware, particularly ransomware. Since Acronis pairs data protection with cyber-security, it is well placed to respond to both needs.
