Actifio revenue up, seeks to align with DevOps, cloud
Actifio is looking to ride a DevOps wave to an initial public offering, but for now the data management vendor is concentrating on bolstering support of its customers and channel partners.
Actifio, based in Waltham, Mass., said the quarter that ended Oct. 31 was its largest third quarter ever.
CEO Ash Ashutosh, who founded the company in 2009, said he is happy with the growth rates, but stressed that the quality of the Actifio revenue is more important. Ashutosh said Actifio customers are not just using the vendor for data protection but also asking themselves, “What can I do with this data?”
Actifio, which helped create the term “copy data management” in its early days, now calls itself a data-as-a-service software provider. Actifio software provides backup and disaster recovery, plus data management capabilities such as DevOps and analytics. The vendor claims 52% of Actifio revenue is driven by products to boost DevOps, analytics and cyber-resilience initiatives. The DevOps process can result in a proliferation of data copies if not managed properly.
As a private company, Actifio does not provide specific revenue amounts, but Ashutosh said the company will when the time is right. Actifio has long been considered a strong candidate for an initial public offering. Ashutosh said he thinks that will happen but does not have a date set.
“It’s a milestone in the journey,” Ashutosh said, but noted that it’s not something he spends too much time contemplating.
Ashutosh said an IPO won’t be a huge change because Actifio has been operating for nearly two years as if it were a public company. That operation includes financial diligence and making sure the company is ready for the long-haul.
“We want to be aligned with where the market is going,” Ashutosh said, and that direction includes the cloud and DevOps, two areas of recent focus for the company.
The vendor claims 18% of Actifio revenue comes from hybrid and multi-cloud adoption across Amazon, Microsoft, Google, IBM, Oracle, VMware and Alibaba public clouds.
Actifio pushes for channel investment, customer success
Last August, Actifio completed its second $100 million funding round in four years. With the funding, Ashutosh said the company is investing mainly in sales and marketing, plus some research and development.
The marketing push includes investing in channel partners. More than 90% of Actifio’s business comes from channel partners. The company has about 120 active partners worldwide. Ashutosh said it’s more important “having them successful” than having a large number.
Actifio has more than 400 employees, up from about 350 last year. Actifio claims 3,500 enterprise customers in 38 countries.
Ashutosh said the latest funding round increased Actifio’s valuation to $1.3 billion, up from $1 billion in 2014, when it last raised $100 million. Total Actifio funding is $307 million.
Actifio is also working to support newer clouds and use cases, Ashutosh said. In August, Actifio expanded its partnership with IBM. The new Cyber Incident Recovery from IBM, part of IBM Resiliency Orchestration 7.3, combines Actifio’s copy data management technology with IBM’s immutable storage, disaster recovery automation and reporting.
Ashutosh said he wants Actifio to focus on how its customers can be even more strategic with their use of data. The industry is shifting to focusing on how organizations can best use data and access it better. Ashutosh claims Actifio pioneered that approach years ago, and he’s pleased the Actifio revenue numbers are showing the fruits of their labor.
“I would rather be a mule to my customers,” Ashutosh said, “than a unicorn to my investors.”