Acronis has raised a $250 million+ in funding from CVC Capital Partners. The funding round values the cyber protection, backup and disaster recovery (BDR) software provider at more than $2.5 billion, Acronis says.
Earlier investors -- including Goldman Sachs -- have retained their stakes in the software business, an Acronis spokesperson tells ChannelE2E.
Looking ahead, the software company will aim a "significant" portion of the CVC investment at go-to-market initiatives involving MSPs (managed IT services providers), the firm adds.
Acronis: Recent and Next Partner Program Moves
Some of those steps surfaced in February 2021, when Acronis unveiled an updated #CyberFit Partner Program that featured financial incentives; marketing and sales assets; account management assistance; enhanced technical support; and more sales and technical training.
Current areas of investment, Acronis says, include:
- Expanding global sales, partner account management and partner success teams; and
- hiring new technical talent for its research and development centers in Bulgaria, Israel, and Singapore, as well as Switzerland and the United States.
Private equity firm CVC Capital has extensive experience in and around the security software, IT services and IT management software sector. The company previously backed the Avast-AVG Technology deal in 2016. Additional CVC investments include ConvergeOne, Skybox Security and Webpros.
Funds managed or advised by CVC are invested in over 90 companies worldwide. Those companies, in turn, have combined annual sales of approximately US$100 billion and employ more than 450,000 people, the private equity firm says.
Data Protection, Cyber Protection and Cyber Resilience Showdown
The latest Acronis funding reinforces a major land grab involve cyber protection, data protection and cyber resilience technology companies that want to more aggressively engage partners -- particularly MSPs. Noteworthy industry moves include:
- April 2021: Druva raised $147 million in late-stage funding that values the cloud data protection software company at more than $2 billion. An IPO could be next.
- February 2021: Arcserve and StorageCraft merged.
- January 2021: Veritas Technologies acquired HubStor.
- January 2021: Hornetsecurity acquired Altaro.
- December 2020: Google acquired Actifio.
- November 2020: Zix acquired CloudAlly
- October 2020: Veeam acquired Kasten for Kubernetes container BDR
- March 2020: Private equity firm Insight Partners acquired Veeam
- December 2019: OpenText acquired Carbonite and Webroot
- January 2019: Amazon acquired CloudEndure
CVC Capital Invests in Acronis: More Details
In a prepared statement about the investment, CVC Capital Partners Senior Managing Director Leif Lindbäck said:
“Acronis’ talented management and R&D teams have invested significant resources developing an innovative cloud-native ‘MSP in a box’ solution, with integrated backup, disaster recovery, cybersecurity, remote management, and workflow tools. Acronis provides mission-critical solutions to more than 10,000 MSPs and half a million small and medium businesses. CVC has a strong track record in cybersecurity and partnering up with successful entrepreneurs, and we are looking forward to teaming up with Serguei Beloussov and the Acronis team to accelerate the company’s growth.”
Lindbäck leads CVC's telecommunications, media and technology (MTM) activity in Europe and is based in London, according to CVC's website.
Added Serguei “SB” Beloussov, founder and CEO of Acronis:
“With this additional funding, we will accelerate the development of our product portfolio and invest more in our partners’ success. Our goal is to develop market-leading technology and help our partners grow their profits, while providing the best protection for their clients.”
Previous Acronis Funding, Key Acquisitions
Acronis previously raised $147 million in funding led by Goldman Sachs in September 2019. That funding accelerated an Acronis expansion strategy from backup, disaster recovery (BDR) and data protection to cyber protection. Acronis CEO Serguei Beloussov described the software business transformation in this October 2020 ChannelE2E interview.
Acronis has been growing both organically and via M&A. Noteworthy acquisitions include:
- March 2021: Synapsys, a long-time partner and specialty distributor with business units that support resellers, VARs and MSPs in South Africa.
- November 2020: CyberLynx for security audits, penetration testing & proprietary training solutions.
- July 2020: DeviceLock for data loss prevention (DLP) software.
- December 2019: 5nine for Microsoft Hyper-V & Azure cloud management & security.
Founded in Singapore in 2003 and incorporated in Switzerland in 2008, Acronis now has more than 1,600 employees in 33 locations in 18 countries, the company says.
