Druva Hits $2 Billion Valuation in Big Win for Cloud Data Protection Sector

Cloud data protection vendor Druva says its valuation now totals $2 billion, thanks to $147 million in new funding.

Investment group Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) led the round. Neuberger Berman also contributed what Druva calls “a significant investment.” Both firms manage more than $3 billion in net assets. Viking Global Investors and Atreides Management took part as well; they have been Druva investors for a while.

What Druva’s $147 million more means for Druva’s Compass channel program so far remains the question. Presumably, the company will use at least some of its infusion to support partners even further. Robert Brower, the vendor’s new senior vice president of worldwide partners and alliances, told Channel Futures in March that he has big plans for Compass.

Druva’s Robert Brower

Druva as a whole looks poised to capitalize on the new funding round — and its amped-up valuation. If a rising tide lifts all boats, channel partners ostensibly will benefit from the $147 million. It’s just a matter of how and how much.

“Druva has a direct sales force, which continues to grow across the globe,” Brower told Channel Futures on Monday. “Channel partners are core to Druva’s success and account for more than 90% of all sales. In the coming year, we are focused on expanding our channel relationships in EMEA, working closely with our alliance partners, supporting our new collaboration with Dell through the Dell EMC PowerProtect Backup Service and removing one of the biggest obstacles for direct sales by building programs that benefits both Druva and its partners. Druva is also actively working with AWS and our strategic partners to better assist customers and highlight the benefits of AWS’ cloud architecture for their organizations.”

Cloud: Everybody Wants Some

These days, everybody wants a piece of the cloud pie. COVID-19 has pushed more organizations into adopting cloud technologies sooner than expected. As one vendor put it to Channel Futures earlier this year, “The customer of 2030 arrived in 2020.”

That’s no exaggeration. Gartner says that, worldwide, public cloud services experienced stronger-than-expected growth last year. As such, in March, analysts revised their forecasts to reflect a five-year compound annual growth rate of nearly 21%. They expect end-user spending on public cloud to increase more than 18% this year alone, to almost $305 billion. That compares to $257.5 billion in 2020.

It’s no surprise, then, that demand for cloud is attracting interest, largely among private investors. Take two recent, large, examples that come in addition to Druva. Two weeks ago, Tiger Global joined SoftBank in pouring $110 million into cloud analytics provider Redis Labs. (Incidentally, the round brought that company’s valuation to $2 billion, just like Druva’s. Redis sells through the channel, too.) And digital forensic analysis startup Cado Security last week secured $10 million in Series A funding. (The company teams with consultants and managed security service providers.)

For Jaspreet Singh, founder and CEO of 13-year-old Druva, the momentum makes sense.

Druva’s Jaspreet Singh

“The unprecedented events of 2020 have ushered in a generational cloud transformation for businesses, and data‘s increasing value is at the very heart of it,” Singh said. “This investment and our continued, rapid growth is further validation of our vision for a simple, open, and unified data protection and management platform.”

Data Protection No Longer an Option

To be sure, protecting data ranks as a top global priority. Recent high-profile hacks highlight the importance of keep data safe, both from bad actors and inadvertent human error. Druva specializes in cloud backup and recovery. And there’s a little-discussed opportunity here for channel partners. When deploying cloud backup tools, make sure to …