vArmour Raises $44M, To Target MSSPs With Hosted Version Of Product

vArmour Wednesday announced the completion of its Series E round and plans to use some of the proceeds to expand the company's relationship with MSSPs.

The Mountain View, Calif.-based cloud security vendor said the bulk of the proceeds will be allocated to vArmour's go-to-market strategy, with an emphasis on sales, channels and alliances. Even though vArmour was cash-flow-positive in two of the past four quarters, CEO Tim Eades said the $44 million haul should help fuel the sale and distribution of the company's products.

"The best time to raise money is when you don't need it," Eades told CRN.

[Related: With A Little Help From Its Friends, vArmour Introduces Multicloud Security Architecture]

Specifically, Eades said MSSPs and other channel partners will now in their own environment be able a host and run the vArmour product, which facilitates the application of security controls in hybrid clouds. Being able to host the product themselves will make it easier for MSSPs to bundle in more services and deliver more value to the customer, according to Eades.

"They become the go-to-market provider of the technology," Eades said.

Specifically, Eades said the hosting option will provide MSSPs with greater visibility into which applications would be compliant in a public or private cloud setting, which in turn allows the channel to drive more products and services to the cloud. In addition, the hosted version of the product will make it possible for channel partners to on-board customers in a more cost-effective manner, Eades said.

The hosted option will be available starting Wednesday, Eades said, and should make it easier for partners to help their customers maintain compliance when they have assets in more than one environment. All partners capable of engaging with, promoting, leveraging and wrapping services around the hosted vArmour offering are allowed to have it, Eades said, even if they're not MSSPs.

"I think it's going to be an exciting year for hybrid cloud," Eades said. "It's up to us and channel partners to solve problems for customers."

Eades anticipates that the Series E round, led by AllegisCyber and NightDragon, will be the last funding round carried out by vArmour. Eades is familiar with the M&A market, but said he remains focused on continuing to grow vArmour with an eye toward eventually going public. vArmour doubled its top-line revenue over the past year, and Eades said he'd like to continue growing at that rate going forward.

vArmour currently has between 120 and 130 channel partners globally, Eades said, most of whom are either born in virtualization solution providers focused on cloud adoption or high-end, boutique security consultants or resellers. Between 15 percent and 20 percent of vArmour's channel partners today are MSSPs, according to Eades.

The company would like to double the size of its partner base over the next year, Eades said, particularly in the MSSP category. Eades said vArmour is only looking to expand its 100-person employee base by between 10 percent and 15 percent in the next year, noting that the company plans to leverage distribution and its channels for growth. vArmour is sold exclusively through the channel, Eades said.

All told, vArmour has raised $127 million through five rounds of outside funding since being founded eight years ago.

More and more customers of Scalar, a CDW company, are moving to cloud all the time, according to Theo van Wyk, CTO of the Toronto, Ontario-based solution provider. Specifically, van Wyk said in a statement said customers are looking for the kind of agility and flexibility that allows them to work across multiple cloud environments that support their mission-critical applications.

"The demand is there, and vArmour's technology is helping our customers ensure they are secure and compliant across public, private or cloud deployments," van Wyk said.