Cyber protection firm Acronis draws over $333m in funding, to double headcount in Singapore

Acronis said the funds will also go towards marketing efforts and building data centres. PHOTO: ACRONIS/FACEBOOK

SINGAPORE - Swiss-based cyber protection firm Acronis has drawn more than US$250 million (S$333 million) in funding, much of which will be channelled to expanding its engineering headcount in offices in Singapore, Israel, Bulgaria and the United States.

Announcing this on Tuesday (May 4), the Singapore-founded company said the funds will also go towards marketing efforts and building data centres.

Acronis was founded in Singapore in 2003 and later incorporated in Switzerland in 2008, and has over 1,600 employees across 18 countries.

The funding, led by private equity firm CVC Capital Partners, will take Acronis' valuation to over US$2.5 billion. It previously raised US$190 million in 2019, which was led by Goldman Sachs.

Founder and chief executive Serguei Beloussov, in a virtual interview with The Straits Times, said that Acronis will look to double its headcount in Singapore, where over 200 people are based. Most of those employed here are working in research and development (R&D) functions.

Singapore is home to the firm's largest business office and its second-largest engineering office, after Bulgaria, and also serves as its international headquarters. Its corporate headquarters is in Switzerland.

Overall, about two-thirds of the company's expected hiring globally will be for more technical roles such as engineering, where it seeks to double its headcount of about 1,000 in the next three years.

The remainder of the hiring will focus on front office operations such as partner account managers.

Acronis provides data protection and cyber-security services in its integrated solutions, which are used by over 500,000 companies as well as more than 5.5 million consumers.

Mr Beloussov, who moved to Singapore in 1993 and became a naturalised citizen in 2001, said that Singapore has a rich pool of talent, especially with its investments in science and technology over the past decades, and the Republic will continue to play a key role in the company's growth.

Mr Leif Lindback, senior managing director of CVC Capital Partners, said that Acronis has invested significant resources in developing an innovative solution with integrated back-up, disaster recovery, cyber security and other tools, and provides critical solutions to numerous managed service providers and businesses.

"CVC has a strong track record in cyber security and partnering up with successful entrepreneurs, and we are looking forward to teaming up with Serguei Beloussov and the Acronis team to accelerate the company's growth."

Addressing a question on Acronis' possible plans to go public, Mr Beloussov said: "We can't comment on this in detail, but we're definitely looking into listing in one of the stock exchanges in the next 24 months, but there could also be a (mergers and acquisitions deal)... there are many other ways we can go about it."

But while going public is one likely avenue as the firm continues on its growth trajectory, it is not the end goal for the company, which is to protect all data applications and systems, he added.

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