Channel Brief: Lyra Technology Group’s Growth Strategy, Acuvity Raises $9M for GenAI Security

A new CompTIA tech jobs report shows a job market that’s in a holding pattern, according to the tech industry association.

The most recent edition showed that hiring by tech industry companies was essentially flat in August 2024. Employers added 3,400 workers in the services and software development sector, but tech manufacturing jobs declined by 2,500, part of a broader reduction nationally in factory and manufacturing jobs, according to the report.

Tech occupation employment throughout the economy declined by 28,000 positions, causing the unemployment rate for tech occupations to inch up to 3.4%. Employer job postings for tech positions increased modestly to just over 500,000, and nearly 211,000 new job postings were added in August, the report showed.

The full CompTIA Tech Jobs Report is available here.

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Grab your coffee. Here's what you need to know today.

Today’s Tech, Channel and MSP News

1. Lyra hires 36 chief growth officers to fuel expansion: Technology services business Lyra Technology Group has hired 36 chief growth officers (CGOs) across its 71+ operating companies over the last 18 months, the company said in a statement. The company's initiative to onboard 36 CGOs revealed that companies within Lyra that have recently onboarded CGOs have seen a 51% increase in monthly recurring revenue (MRR). Lyra plans to hire an additional 30 CGOs.

2. Acuvity emerges from stealth, raises $9M for generative AI security: AI security and governance platform Acuvity last week announced a $9 million seed funding round led by Foundation Capital, with participation from individual investors like Basil Alwan, Sri Reddy and Jonathan Siddharth, the company said in a statement. Acuvity will use the funding to accelerate the development of its products, which include discovery and visualization engines that provide in-depth insights into all generative AI interactions and keep a comprehensive audit trail of inputs and outputs to assist with both regulatory compliance and cost optimization. Acuvity’s platform comprises AI security and governance products that help enterprises create a policy framework for generative AI, monitor and report usage and risks, alert users of risky behavior and block and redact sensitive data from being uploaded into LLM models.

3. TCS expands partnership with Google Cloud: Tata Consulting Services (TCS) has expanded its partnership with Google Cloud to offer two solutions—TCS Managed Detection and Response (MDR) and TCS Secure Cloud Foundation, the companies said in a statement. These solutions will enhance businesses' threat detection and response capabilities, even in non-cloud environments. The TCS MDR solution, powered by Google Security Operations platform, combines the hyperscaler’s advanced threat detection capabilities with TCS’ contextual knowledge to enable security teams to reduce the time required to detect and respond to threats. TCS Secure Cloud Foundation leverages capabilities from Google Cloud’s security solutions like AI, machine learning, and automation to strengthen cloud security posture and governance across single, multi- and hybrid cloud environments by embedding security and compliance guardrails throughout the DevSecOps lifecycle, the companies said.

4. Progress acquires ShareFile: AI-powered infrastructure software company Progress today announced it will acquire ShareFile, a business unit of Cloud Software Group, Inc., providing SaaS-native, AI-powered, document-centric collaboration. ShareFile focuses on business and professional services, financial services, healthcare and construction. Upon closing, ShareFile will add to Progress's capabilities with SaaS-native, AI-powered document-centric collaboration and workflows, client portal, secure file sync and share and eSignature to its portfolio, the companies said. ShareFile is expected to add more than $240M in annual revenue and more than 86,000 customers to Progress.

5. Recognize invests in Blue Mantis: Private equity firm Recognize has made a a significant majority investment in Blue Mantis, an IT services provider with expertise in managed services, cybersecurity and cloud solutions. Abry Partners, which has backed the company since 2020, will continue as a minority investor in the company. Blue Mantis services mid-market and enterprise clients with a North American focus across multiple vertical markets including business services, healthcare, financial services, manufacturing and public sector. The company is headquartered in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and also has a global delivery center in Bangalore, India and Toronto, Canada.