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 …

… separate backups from remote monitoring and management software, vendors tell Channel Futures. Not doing so can prove a huge mistake.

Asigra’s Eran Farajun

“You’ve got to protect your backups,” Asigra’s Eran Farajun said in January, in the wake of the SolarWinds fiasco. Not enough people do that, he said, “because they think [backup’s] just there and not an important application category to protect.”

Shock sets in when hackers take over unprotected backups — which is what happened with SolarWinds. The bad guys then delete those files, “and when they know you can’t restore, you have to pay.”

MSSPs and other partners deploying Druva products can, of course, help ensure such layering. Consider this: Adding that extra aspect of data protection is only going to become more urgent and necessary. By 2022, Gartner predicts 40% of organizations will supplement or completely replace traditional backup applications with cloud-based platforms. Research firm IDC sees a similar trajectory.

IDC’s Phil Goodwin

“The last 12 months have underscored how organizational agility is at a premium, and IT leaders are increasingly turning to cloud technologies to increase business resilience and velocity,” said Phil Goodwin, research director at IDC. “Companies able to simplify complex data protection processes, particularly by leveraging the cloud, can gain strategic advantage through better data availability.”

Putting Mouth and Money Together

Druva investors, for their part, have identified a hot category and are eager to make the most of it. That’s why they’re putting their money where their mouths are, as it were.

“Rising volumes of stored data, rapid adoption of cloud and deployment of SaaS applications, regulatory frameworks and cybersecurity concerns have accelerated the demand for data protection and management solutions for businesses,” said Alexandre Synnett, executive vice president and chief technology officer at CDPQ. “The working-from-home dynamic … has further accentuated the need for cloud-based data protection solutions and we believe Druva is in an excellent position to seize opportunities, and enhance its clients’ agility and data compliance.”

To that point, Druva says its customer base has expanded “substantially” throughout the pandemic, and that adoption of its multiple platforms jumped by 50%. The company serves brands including GameStop, Marriott, NASA, National Cancer Institute, Pfizer and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals.

The possibilities are endless, said Charles Kantor, managing director at Neuberger Berman.

“We believe we are in the early innings of enterprises shifting workloads to the cloud, and Druva’s proprietary solutions position the company for long-term success,” he said. “We look forward to providing our experienced market perspectives to management as Druva marks this important inflection point in its growth trajectory.”