Swiss cyber security firm Acronis gets $250mn in CVC-led funding

ZURICH: Swiss cyber security firm Acronis said on Tuesday it has received more than $250 million in a financing round led by CVC Capital valuing it at more than $2.5 billion.

Founded in Singapore in 2003, the privately-held firm views this latest investment as one of its last prior to a future "liquidity event", the head of Acronis said.

"We definitely are looking into providing liquidity for our shareholders, whether it's an IPO or M&A, or via dividends," its founder and chief executive Serguei Beloussov told Reuters.

Acronis does not currently have firm plans to go public, Beloussov said, pointing to market unpredictability, but could see New York, Switzerland or Singapore as potential locations if it were to opt for an initial public offering (IPO).

"We've always considered New York Stock Exchange or NASDAQ as a primary market," Beloussov said, pointing to the group's American investment base.

"But there are other options. I'm a Singaporean citizen, and we're a Swiss company. So naturally we have Swiss banks, which are serving us as corporate banks," he added.

With the latest investment, the firm plans to expand its product offering and marketing efforts in cybersecurity and data protection solutions, while also boosting hiring and the number of service providers it works with.

"The idea is to recruit more cloud partners," Beloussov said, adding cloud-focused resellers and service providers were its fastest growing segment.

The company also intends to double its employees from around 1,600 over the next three years, he added.

Beloussov said he and the firm's co-founders hold a majority of Acronis, while Goldman Sachs is another investor.

Its revenues run in the "multi-hundred million dollars" annually, while the company is operating near break-even in terms of profitability as it invests, after a prior period when it operated profitably, he said.

It aims for above 50% growth in annualised recurring revenue over coming years, he added.