OwnBackup funding will drive further SaaS data protection
As the software-as-a-service market expands, SaaS backup provider OwnBackup secured its largest funding round today and will use the money to expand its Salesforce data protection.
The OwnBackup funding of $23.25 million brings the vendor’s total to about $50 million.
OwnBackup, which has headquarters in Fort Lee, N.J., is focusing on its Salesforce backup product. Though there are other major SaaS platforms such as Office 365 and G Suite, OwnBackup CEO Sam Gutmann said he doesn’t want to offer a suite of products that isn’t enterprise-ready.
“Most startups fail because they fail to focus,” Gutmann said. “We want to be absolute best in class.”
Gutmann said OwnBackup wants to put all of its resources into the Salesforce ecosystem for now. Although OwnBackup discontinued its protection for ServiceNow and Slack workloads, Gutmann left the door open for additional protection down the line.
“We will expand carefully and methodically,” he said.
All about that SaaS backup
SaaS backup options have grown as companies increasingly use cloud-based platforms such as Salesforce. Odaseva provides backup and recovery for Salesforce, and closed an $11.7 million funding round in February. Datto Backupify, Spanning, Asigra and Druva also provide Salesforce protection. Veeam Software recently released the third version of its Backup for Microsoft Office 365 and claims more than 55,000 organizations have downloaded the product.
Gutmann said OwnBackup has been listed on the Salesforce AppExchange since 2012. OwnBackup provides three core elements — backup, comparison tools and recovery.
Education is still necessary. Some users think, “My data is safe and secure in the cloud — it’s someone else’s problem,” Gutmann said. That’s not true, as Salesforce is responsible for the platform, while the user is responsible for the data. Gutmann said every one of the approximately 150,000 Salesforce customers should have proper backup and data management.
“As Salesforce continues to expand and move into other clouds … we will expand our product set to support those clouds as well,” he said.
Gutmann said his team is keeping its eyes open for complementary products as possible acquisition targets, particularly eyeing tools in backup, compliance and security.
OwnBackup claims more than 1,000 customers, many in regulated industries such as health care, life sciences and financial services. Companies that face stiff compliance guidelines understand the need to protect data, Gutmann said.
Earlier this year, OwnBackup launched the Integrity and Compliance Edition add-on to its Salesforce protection that’s designed to serve customers in highly regulated industries. The add-on uses blockchain technology to ensure the integrity of backups.
In addition, OwnBackup’s Archiver product is generally available today. Archiver enables users to directly archive data from Salesforce to OwnBackup’s servers, freeing up production space and helping companies address regulatory compliance needs. Odaseva also recently launched its Vault for Salesforce data archiving.
OwnBackup workforce, footprint growing
The OwnBackup funding will help the company grow from about 100 employees now to nearly 150 in midsummer to close to 200 by the end of 2019, Gutmann said. OwnBackup is building a new headquarters a couple of miles up the road from its current office in New Jersey, where Gutmann expects about 150 employees will work. The vendor is planning to move there at the end of the summer.
OwnBackup also has a major office in Tel Aviv, Israel, and a newer location in London. The OwnBackup funding will help the company make a big push in Europe. Gutmann said OwnBackup may open another office in a different geographic territory.
Insight Venture Partners and Vertex Ventures led the Series C round. Previous investors Innovation Endeavors, Oryzn Capital and Salesforce Ventures also participated in the OwnBackup funding round.