Rubrik Absorbs Start-Up Datos IO

Rubrik, Inc., a cloud data management company, agreed to acquire Datos IO, Inc., in backup and recovery for NoSQL databases and big data file systems.

The acquisition will extend Rubrik’s reach into mission-critical cloud applications and databases increasingly adopted by application and DevOps teams at Fortune 500 companies.

Both companies share a common vision for building a control plane that can automate, orchestrate, and secure data anywhere. By bringing together the two companies’ complementary product portfolios, Rubrik accelerates its mission to become a cloud platform for enterprises to orchestrate application data across the datacenter and public cloud.

Datos IO’s flagship platform RecoverX pioneers a new approach to comprehensive data management for modern cloud applications built on modern NoSQL databases (MongoDB, Cassandra, Couchbase, Amazon DynamoDB) and big data file systems (Cloudera, Hortonworks).

The start-up has filed 22 patents with innovations in application-aware data management for enterprise use cases of backup and recovery, test/dev refresh, in-place analytics, and cloud mobility. Fortune 100 companies have chosen the company to protect and manage their cloud applications enabling digital transformation, including three of the top Fortune 15 companies and the world’s largest home improvement retailer.

Enterprises use these cloud databases and file systems to power bleeding edge mission critical applications in several domains: IoT, AI/machine learning, real-time analytics, e-commerce, security and mobile analytics.

“As enterprises adopt NoSQL cloud databases to undertake digital transformation and AI initiatives, the need to manage and recover applications and data is becoming top of mind. We are excited to have Datos IO join the Rubrik family to accelerate innovation in how enterprises manage and recover this modern application stack,” said Bipul Sinha, co-founder and CEO, Rubrik.

“We founded Datos IO with a vision of building a next-generation data management platform for cloud-native data sources to ensure elasticity, orchestration and data mobility,” said Tarun Thakur, co-founder and CEO, Datos IO. “Datos IO delivers critical backup and recovery capabilities for cloud-native applications and databases. Rubrik and Datos IO share a common vision of cloud data management and are committed to helping customers on their digital transformation journey.”

Datos IO will continue to be led by Thakur as a new business unit called Rubrik Datos IO reporting to Sinha.

Comments

Surprise or not, Rubrik and Datos IO represent the new wave of data protection belonging to the next generation data protection club with Cohesity.

Bipul Sinha, co-founder and CEO, Rubrik, continues to illustrate his talent in financial and market anticipation and swallows a fast growing, promising and innovating player. He then adds a key core features to Rubrik cloud data management software. A clever move.

We notice that both companies have a common VC, Lighspeed Ventures Partners, the previous house of Bipul. Funny right? For sure it helps when you wish to consolidate…

We understand also how cash raised by Rubrik is used as its CEO often says “we don't touch the last round” even if here no transaction details were indicated. Cash, stock or mix, the information is not shared publicly.

The only detail given is the landing zone of Datos IO as a business unit named Rubrik Datos IO led by Tarun Thakur, the former CEO of Datos IO. But we anticipate that the complexity of this organization won't last too long as Rubrik wished to have everything behind one umbrella.

As Datos IO, with no more than $15 million in financial funding, has anticipated $100 million in 2022 as a long-term target goal, we anticipated a transaction between $50 and $100million. If we consider a range of multiples of capital raised, we reach things close $50 million as well. If we used a ratio of revenue per employee and multiples on this we converge towards this same range between $50 and $100 million. It seems that Pitchbook mentions a value of $45 million post money following the last round, confirming potentially the same range as well. The truth is probably in that range.

For Rubrik, definitely, it’s a good news, it brings team, developer talent, technology, product and features, installed base and finally it increases the value of the enterprise. Rubrik insists on the NoSQL and HDFS flavors as finally we estimate that the key elements are how data are swallowed and restored, not how data are stored as Rubrik has a strong repository back-end for backup images. It’s for sure a time to market reason plus a fantastic opportunity as Rubrik has to react to address such needs without the capability to deliver its own solution built organically. The time is too short so acquisition is the right way to do it.

2018 battle is on between Veritas the giant with $2 billion of revenue, Veeam with $800 million and Rubrik at around $100 million.

Following that move, what will be the future of Imanis Data, the competitor of Datos IO for NoSQL and other distributed applications?

It’s a lesson for players too ambitious, driven by utopia and out of the market reality. We know how this kind of story may finish: bankruptcy or 'small' exit with limited value for investors and shareholders.

Here it seems to be done at the right moment for both companies.

Read also:
Exclusive Interview With Tarun Thakur, CEO, Datos IO
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Start-Up Profile: Datos IO, Just Emerging and Getting $15 Million in Financial Funding
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