Alcion – a modern data management startup – recently announced it raised $21 million in a Series A funding round, bringing its total funding to $29 million. This funding round was led by Veeam, a leader in data protection and ransomware recovery, and supports the general availability and global go-to-market expansion of Alcion’s security-first AI-driven Backup-as-a-Service (BaaS) platform for Microsoft 365 and protection of other business-critical SaaS services moving forward. The company’s multi-layered approach to security combats ransomware and malware using threat detection, intelligent backup scheduling, encryption, and delete protection.
This release includes Alcion’s industry-leading AI-driven ransomware protection models that constantly learn from user behavior and operate on a per-user or resource level to detect targeted attacks. And given research that shows 94% of ransomware attacks target backup repositories and 68% of these attacks result in full or partial compromise, including deletion of backups, the company has also placed a special focus on boosting security features that protect backups.
Alcion will also focus on building features for its managed service provider (MSP) customers as well as extend data protection features for additional SaaS services apart from Microsoft 365. And other high-impact features include:
1.) Deepened focus on data security – Improvements include heightened ransomware detection, clarity in malware protection, actionable insights, immutable backups as well as malware alerts and notifications in app and via email.
2.) SOC 2 Type II certification – This certification demonstrates the implementation of rigorous controls and procedures that ensure the security, integrity, and confidentiality of customer data.
3.) Proactive approach to data protection – This platform will proactively help admins ensure that their Microsoft 365 data is properly protected vs. notifying them after exposure. And new features include a Compliance Score for quick evaluation of configuration and backup health, in addition to targeted Data Protection Insights and Recommendations based on data activity in the tenant.
4.) Ease of product functionality – Increased integration with Teams, Shared Mailboxes, export of backups to local files, restore options, and notifications.
5.) Flexible self-service – Now listed on the Microsoft Marketplace, Alcion BaaS for Microsoft 365 is an easy, fully flexible self-service purchasing option available to all.
6.) Worldwide availability – The general availability of a new Australian region is now paired with existing US and EU regions, with more expansion to come.
Along with Veeam, the Series A round saw participation from all prior investors, including Lip-Bu Tan, Chairman of Walden International and Intel Board Member; Debanjan Saha, CEO of DataRobot; Abhinav Asthana, CEO and founder of Postman; and Amarjit Gill, serial entrepreneur and investor at Nepenthe Capital.
KEY QUOTES:
“Data protection is more critical than ever. Since exiting stealth in May, we’ve witnessed a 700% increase in organizations using the platform, propelling Alcion to a petabyte of managed logical backups. This round of funding positions us to rapidly scale our mission of protecting all the world’s data against both malicious threats and accidents. Alcion customers and the rapidly growing open-source Corso community will benefit from greater functionality, ease of use, and heightened ransomware detection.”
– Niraj Tolia, CEO and co-founder of Alcion
“Ransomware has become an insidious threat for every organization. As an organization that serves primarily Fortune 500 and Global 2000 customers, strong data protection is imperative for us. Alcion for Microsoft 365 ensures our data is protected and secure at all times. Put simply, Alcion gives us peace of mind.”
– Mike Waas, CEO of Datometry
“Every organization faces challenges in protecting their data from outages and cyber-attacks. Helping customers combat endemic issues like ransomware will take an industry-wide effort coupled with technical and business investment. Along with providing the world’s leading data protection and ransomware recovery capabilities, Veeam is committed to championing and fostering new cybersecurity innovation and our investment in Alcion is part of that commitment. It’s great they have reached this important product milestone.”
– Danny Allan, CTO at Veeam
