Data Security Startup Secuvy Shifts To All-Channel Model For Growth Push

The company sees a massive opportunity for solution and service provider partners in providing capabilities such as data discovery and DSPM (data security posture management), Secuvy CEO Mike Seashols tells CRN.

Secuvy has shifted to a 100-percent channel model for delivery of its data security capabilities as the startup looks to accelerate its growth with the help of partners, Secuvy CEO Mike Seashols told CRN.

Founded in 2019, Secuvy offers a set of AI-powered capabilities for securing data including discovery, classification and DSPM (data security posture management) — the latter of which has become a fast-growing segment in the cybersecurity industry in recent years.

Crucially, Secuvy also provides the ability to link various data sources together — both structured and unstructured data — to create a true “data map,” Seashols said.

“We're one of the few that really know how to link structured, unstructured and semi-structured data together,” he said.

Likewise, data classification and discovery are both difficult to do well, in part due to the sprawling nature of data, Seashols noted. However, perhaps the biggest challenge is how to link all the sources together effectively, he said.

If done correctly though, the “clarity of the data map with all the linkages allows [customers] to assess so much easier,” Seashols said. “And I think for partners it’s the same thing.”

At Tevora, an Irvine, Calif.-based partner of Secuvy, executive vice president of sales Steve Stumpfl said the company is currently engaging with a large number of clients around data security issues related to AI initiatives.

“They’re launching big AI projects, and we’re being asked to help them figure out where the data is,” Stumpfl said. “But the old ways take too long, and are too hard and costly to do.”

Secuvy’s offering, however, is proving to be a faster and easier option that ultimately provides the visibility customers are looking for, he said.

“It’s really setting [customers] up with understanding where their critical data is located,” Stumpfl said.

Stumpfl also said he’s glad to see the shift to an all-channel model as Secuvy looks to scale up, which is not the case with some of the vendor’s competitors.

“It breaks down a barrier with our sales team, where you can bring them in and know that they're 100-percent channel,” he said. “And not only that, but we're getting brought into a couple deals from them as well.”

Other partners working with Secuvy also include Schellman, Optiv, Wipro and ePlus, the company said.

Seashols is an Oracle veteran — who started with the company in its early phase as its first vice president of marketing and sales — while Secuvy Co-founder and CTO Prashant Sharma was director of engineering at Salesforce Labs where he helped lead the launch of its Einstein AI platform. Co-founder Vaibhav Mehrotra was previously information security lead at Zscaler.

The company was initially self-funded and in total has raised less than $5 million in outside funding from investors including Dell Technologies Capital and WestWave Capital, Seashols said.

All in all, Secuvy is looking to work with partners that are seeking a highly scalable and accurate data security approach, he said.

And with the all-channel commitment, partners can be assured that “we’re not going to compete with you,” Seashols said. “We’re going to go in there collaboratively.”