Channel Brief: Onapsis Plans to Double Revenue With New CRO

The Biden administration has overhauled the H1-B skilled worker visa program to make it less complex and easier to navigate, speed up applications and penalize those that abuse the system, Newsweek reported.

Some immigration advocacy groups and attorneys praised the move, seeing it as a way to make the work-based visa more efficient and predictable in a system known for its slow pace and complicated filing rules.

Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said the changes would make it easier for employers to fill vacancies and keep workers longer and students would see smoother transitions from their temporary visas once they were hired.

Some companies and educational institutions are allowed to apply for visas outside the DHS cap (in 2024, the cap was 85,000 workers), and that allowance was extended to nonprofits and governmental research organizations, according to Newsweek.

DHS said new criteria for approving applications include insisting that degree fields must directly apply to the job linked to the visa application. At the same time, immigration officials will be able to defer to previous approvals when an extension application arrives.

As always, drop me a line at [email protected] if you have news to share or want to say hi!

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

Today’s Tech, Channel and MSP News

1. Grip Security partners with SailPoint for SaaS identity security: SaaS identity security firm Grip Security is teaming up with SailPoint Technologies, Inc. to address growing SaaS security risks. This collaboration delivers broader visibility and improved security for shadow SaaS discovered by the Grip SaaS Security Control Plane platform and allows enterprises to extend their identity governance (IGA) programs managed by SailPoint Identity Security Cloud (ISC) to these applications.

2. Lemongrass names new CEO: Software services provider Lemongrass has appointed Tim Wintrip to CEO. Wintrip replaces Mike Rosenbloom, who will become a member of the company’s Board of Directors. Wintrip has held executive sales and delivery roles at companies including Dell EMC, CSC, Virtustream and VMware. Wintrip was also with VISA as the Vice President of Global Systems Engineering. Wintrip has been the Chief Customer Officer at Lemongrass since 2022. Congratulations!

3. Onapsis' new CRO: SAP app security firm Onapsis says it will double revenue by 2026, led by its new chief revenue officer (CRO) Paul Kleinschnitz (PK). Kleinschnitz will also bring Onapsis' product roadmap to market and kickstart a strong focus on partnerships, the company said. Kleinschnitz has a track record of driving company exits, breaking into new markets and securing major VC funding rounds throughout his career, including with network detection and response company Corelight, where he nearly doubled revenue and took the company through a $150M series E led by CrowdStrike and Cisco. Congratulations! 

4. Vultr raises $333M: Cloud startup Vultr raised $333 million, led by Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and hedge fund LuminArx Capital Management, for a growth financing round, the Wall Street Journal reported. West Palm Beach, Fla.-based Vultr said it is now valued at $3.5 billion and plans to use the financing to acquire more GPUs, the chips that power AI models. The funding is Vultr’s first injection of outside capital.

5. U.S. considering a ban on TP-Link routers: Authorities in the U.S. are considering a ban on TP-Link internet routers, citing national security concerns due to their repeated links to Chinese cyberattacks, according to the Wall Street Journal. Investigators at the Commerce, Defense, and Justice departments have all launched probes into the company, with TP-Link reportedly being subpoenaed by an office of the Commerce Department.

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