Jungle Disk Expands Data Protection Business With Three Acquisitions

‘We can implement data protection for the smallest customers to enterprises. The four can share certain processes and technologies across the field. There’s a lot each can learn from our institutional knowledge. ... We can provide services to small businesses to enterprises around the world. Not many companies in the market today can do that,’ says Jungle Disk President and CEO Bret Piatt.

Jungle Disk, a developer of cloud-based data protection and cybersecurity technologies, has acquired three of its peers in a move to provide a range of data protection and disaster recovery products and services to customers ranging from small businesses to enterprises.

Jungle Disk, which until 2016 was owned by Rackspace before being purchased by current Jungle Disk President and CEO Bret Piatt (pictured), has acquired KeepItSafe, LiveVault and OffsiteDataSync assets from J2 Global.

J2 Global, which owns such internet information and cloud services companies as Spiceworks, Mashable and publisher Ziff Davis, earlier this month unveiled a plan to split into two publicly-listed companies.

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J2 Global, which built its business through multiple acquisitions, including the three data protection vendors, was not always successful in its pursuits of more acquisitions. The company in 2012 and 2014 failed in bids to acquire Carbonite, which would have been its biggest data protection acquisition.

Dry Line Partners, a private equity investment firm, which counts Piatt as a partner, and Porthcawl Holdings, an investment company co-founded by Piatt, both supported San Antonio, Texas-based Jungle Disk in its acquisition of the three companies.

“Combined, the four companies’ revenue make up one of the largest stand-alone backup and disaster recovery organizations in the market, especially when it comes to backup-as-a-service,” Piatt told CRN. “There are not a lot of stand-alone specialist data protection vendors in the market anymore.”

Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

While the four companies are all involved in data protection and disaster recovery, they have their own approaches to the market that leave very little customer overlap between them, Piatt said.

Jungle Disk focuses on small businesses that need protected backups with encryption across Windows, Macintosh and Linux environments, while OffsiteDataSync is the top cloud data protection partner of Veeam, he said. Between them there is not a single overlapping customer, he said.

KeepItSafe provides data backup and cloud-based services, while LiveVault provides enterprise server backup and archiving technologies, he said.

Bringing the four companies together in a single organization makes sense because they all tackle data protection and disaster recovery, but from different angles, Piatt said.

“We can implement data protection for the smallest customers to enterprises,” he said. “The four can share certain processes and technologies across the field. There’s a lot each can learn from our institutional knowledge. And customers today may be a large U.S. company with a small operation in Ireland. In Ireland, we can work with them as if it were a small business, while offering enterprise capabilities in the U.S. We can provide services to small businesses to enterprises around the world. Not many companies in the market today can do that.”

For now the four companies will continue to operate as before, including with their existing brands, with the biggest change being that Piatt is now the president and CEO of all four.

That may or may not change, Piatt said. “A decision to consolidate into one brand is not to be taken lightly,” he said.

The four currently have a mix of direct and indirect channel businesses, with some having partner programs and others not, Piatt said.

“On the go-to-market side, we have been having a bunch of internal discussions to understand whether it’s better to keep some direct channels or go all-channel,” he said. “We need more conversations to drive the most effective route to best serve the customers.”

Piatt also did not rule out more acquisitions in the future. “We’re always looking at the market,” he said. “We’re backup and disaster recovery specialists. Any future acquisition has to have the right team, the right product and the right fit.”