Pakistani-founded AI startup acquired for nearly $2bn

Cybersecurity and data protection infrastructure startup Securiti AI, founded by Pakistani Rehan Jalil, was acquired by Seattle-based Veeam Software for $1.725bn.

“Veeam and Securiti AI unify data resilience with Data Security Posture Management, privacy, governance, and AI trust spanning production and secondary data,” Veeam said in a statement.

Data resilience refers to the ability of data systems — such as databases, storage, or networks — to withstand, recover from, and continue operating after disruptions, such as hardware failures, cyberattacks, natural disasters, or human errors.

“Together, they will help customers understand their full data estate, while providing security, along with recovery and rollback, to unleash the value of their data for AI,” the statement added.

“We’ve entered a new era for data. It’s no longer about just protecting data from cyber threats and unforeseen disasters; it’s also about identifying all your data, ensuring it’s governed and trusted to power AI transparently,” explained Anand Eswaran, CEO at Veeam.

“This is the single most critical factor in failed AI initiatives. By combining the market-leading strengths of Veeam and Securiti AI, we bring those capabilities together in a single solution to help customers understand, secure, recover, and rollback, and unleash their data to drive new business value,“ he added.

Following the close of the transaction, Rehan Jalil will join Veeam as President of Security and AI.

Jalil, who is also Securiti AI’s CEO, previously founded cloud security company Elastica, which merged with Blue Coat for $280 million. Symantec later acquired the joint company for $ 4.7 billion.

Jalil was also the founder and CEO of WiChorus, which develops software solutions for network management in telecommunications and which network technology company Tellabs acquired for $180 million.

Jalil began his career at Sun Microsystems, where he contributed to the development of the earliest multicore GPUs. Jalil is a graduate of the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School, and has earned an MSEE from Purdue University and a BS from NED University.

“Enterprise AI is simply not possible without data security. Securiti AI solves that and enables the safe use of data and AI,” said Jalil.

“Bringing together our unique capabilities with Veeam, the global leader in data resilience, creates a new value proposition for customers with one data command center delivering data resilience, DSPM, privacy, governance, and AI trust for your entire data estate,“ he said.

“Veeam’s global reach and innovation, combined with our technology and intelligence, will provide customers with unmatched business resilience and security to fully unlock the benefits of AI.”