Valued at over $2 billion, Druva raises fresh $147 million

This suggests the market share of pure-play Indian SaaS companies could increase to around 5% by FY25 from about 2% in FY20.

Cloud data protection and management platform Druva on Monday said it has raised a fresh $147 million from a clutch of investors led by Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec (CDPQ) and Neuberger Berman at a valuation of over $2 billion. Existing backers Viking Global Investors and Atreides Management also participated in the funding round. The SaaS (software-as-a-service) start-up has raised close to $500 million in capital so far.

According to IDC, the global SaaS market is expected to cross $276 billion by FY24. Nasscom estimates the revenue for pure play Indian SaaS companies could increase six-fold to $13-15 billion by FY25 from $2.5 billion in FY20.
This suggests the market share of pure-play Indian SaaS companies could increase to around 5% by FY25 from about 2% in FY20.

Credit Suisse wrote recently in its report on 100 Unicorns, the emergence and adoption of new technologies such as cloud, mobile, RPA, AI, and the like over the last 5-10 years has not only facilitated increased penetration of the SaaS business model but also brought about new verticals/areas where SaaS can be deployed.

“For example cyber security, API, analytics, have become emerging areas of focus for SaaS companies,” CS observed.
The report added that while the initial Indian SaaS companies were largely focussed on horizontal product offerings such as ERP or CRM solutions, over the last five years Indian SaaS enterprises have expanded in to vertical SaaS solutions, targeting specific industry verticals such as retail, logistics, healthcare and travel. They have also moved into emerging technologies such as API, AI/ML, security etc.

Druva claims its cloud platform’s customer base has expanded substantially during 2020 while the adoption of products has increased by 50% in the same time period. In the last year, the company’s data under management has grown by more than 40%. The company counts GameStop, Marriott, NASA, National Cancer Institute, Pfizer, and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals among its clients.

“As data grows exponentially in parallel to this new operating model, traditional data protection based on hardware and software is no longer scalable or cost-effective. Instead, businesses need a new approach which can be deployed from anywhere, protect data across the enterprise, and deliver it securely as a service,” the company led by founder & CEO Jaspreet Singh said.