EQT Acquires Majority Ownership in Acronis, Valuing the Cybersecurity Company at Over $3.5 Billion

Investor interest in cybersecurity continues to surge, highlighted by the recent acquisition by EQT of a majority interest in Acronis. This company focuses on safeguarding data and provides seamless security and cloud solutions for managed service providers and in-house IT departments.

Details concerning the exact size and valuation of EQT’s stake in Acronis, as well as the total enterprise value of Acronis, remain undisclosed. However, both entities have indicated that this transaction places Acronis’s valuation above its previously announced value of $3.5 billion, as recorded during a 2022 funding round here.

To illustrate the company’s growth, Acronis itself shares that its solutions are now utilized by 20,000 service providers and in excess of 750,000 companies. Comparatively, in 2022, the company claimed 5.5 million “home users” and 500,000 business clients, and in 2021, it had 10,000 service providers under its umbrella. The company has grown to 2,000 employees up from 1,700 in 2022, and according to Acronis’ president Gaidar Magdanurov, its cloud business is seeing a 40% increase in annual recurring revenue.

Acronis had previously declared profitability in 2021, having raised over $600 million in equity and debt financing up until this recent acquisition. Its investors include notable names such as BlackRock, CVC, and Goldman Sachs.

“The founders, along with the management and several legacy investors – including Black Rock, CVC, and Springcoast – will continue holding minority shares,” Magdanurov conveyed to TechCrunch. He further highlighted that founders Serg Bell (formerly Serguei Beloussov) and Stanislav Protassov will maintain significant ownership stakes in the company.

Stanislav and I always prioritized identifying a partner that truly resonates with Acronis’s ethos and future vision,” Bell articulated to TechCrunch. “With cyber threats escalating in both volume and complexity, we’re confident that Acronis is optimally positioned to offer service providers the premier platform for securely managing and maintaining their clientele’s IT infrastructure profitably.”

Going forward, Bell mentioned, they intend to dedicate more efforts towards another endeavor, the Constructor Group, which is focused on AI and metaverse developments.

This transaction has been in discussion for a while, emphasizing the trend of private equity as a favored exit strategy for tech enterprises, particularly when IPO opportunities are scarce.

Since its inception in 2003 in Singapore before moving its incorporation to Switzerland, Acronis has evolved significantly from its origins as a data recovery and backup service spinoff from Parallels, a company with roots in virtualization based in Russia. Today, Acronis offers a comprehensive suite of services, including continuous data protection, cloud security, and more, standing in competition with entities like Commvault and Veritas.

With EQT’s substantial investment, Acronis is set to continue its operations and growth trajectory.

Ezequiel Steiner, Acronis’s CEO, expressed his excitement about having EQT as a significant partner in supporting strategic growth and shared visions. He acknowledged the support of existing investors and the Acronis team for their role in reaching this phase of growth.

“Acronis stands out as a well-established cybersecurity and data protection platform, offering clear benefits to Managed Service Providers,” stated Johannes Reichel, partner and co-head of technology at EQT’s PE team. “EQT has been closely monitoring Acronis’s evolution for many years, and is impressed by its performance and innovation. We look forward to partnering with Acronis, its management, and its investors in this next growth phase.”