Today is a special day for us and our team. Today we announced that BackupAgent is acquired by Acronis, a household name in our industry. For us (as founders of BackupAgent) this step marks the end of almost a decade of pioneering entrepreneurship in what was first simply Internet, then SaaS and today Cloud. Back in 2004, the concept of internet as an application platform was fairly new and since then our dependence on data (and backups) has grown tremendously. Our first customers were buying 500 MB subscriptions and we were giving away 10 MB trials(!).
Our vision back then was that internet would become the main medium for storage of application data, due to increased bandwidth availability. Yes, that’s right, a groundbreaking insight back then is a no-brainer 10 years later. If you look at the impact of cloud storage today, you wouldn’t believe that we initially had a very hard time finding anyone in the Netherlands who’d be willing to invest. Then again, investing in student entrepreneurs in their early twenties was far more commonplace in Silicon Valley than anywhere in Europe.
We adopted an indirect business model from the very start. Our vision was that the channel of Internet Service Providers would be the perfect go-to-market strategy for our software and services. The BackupAgent company culture evolved around such partnerships and ‘the success of our partner is our success’ became our motto. Eventually we managed to onboard over 900 partners from over 50 countries. This progressed to an all-time high in the past few months.
We came at a crossroads in our corporate history where we’d have to step up further to build a very sizable company. We had expansion plans in North America and Asia, which would require deep pockets and operational excellence. During those discussions we got in touch with Acronis executives who recently announced plans of their own.
It didn’t take long for both Acronis and ourselves to realize that we were each other’s blueprints of what we’d consider next steps. Acronis has sizable sales offices in all the markets we’re after and they saw that our product and services reflect their strategic plans. Acquiring BackupAgent would significantly increase the network of service providers they can deliver cloud backup to. Moreover, Acronis is a strong brand and well known in the MSP channels BackupAgent sells to as well.
Also product-wise Acronis and BackupAgent complement each other very conveniently. Adding that to the equation we see a bright, joint future for our partners and customers and trust that this huge next step will be of value to all.
We want to thank Acronis and our investors for their support and for believing in our vision. To all current and former BackupAgent employees, interns, advisors and freelancers: Our sincerest thanks go out to you. We can only be proud of such a great team of people and we are honored by your dedication and passion.
And to each and all of our partners and customers: thank you for your confidence. Without you, BackupAgent wouldn’t exist. We will continue our journey being part of Acronis and it’s our strong belief that this will only bring you good.
Cheers,
Roland Sars & Robbert van Geldrop
