5 Companies That Came To Win This Week

For the week ending Jan. 16, CRN takes a look at the companies that brought their ‘A’ game to the channel including CrowdStrike, Google Cloud, Veeam, Armis and Torq.

The Week Ending Jan. 16

Topping this week’s 5 Companies that Came to Win list is CrowdStrike for a strategic acquisition that will extend its security capabilities to web browsers.

Also making this week’s list is Google Cloud for going live with a major upgrade of its channel program that offers everything from new partner tiers and competencies to enhanced AI features and incentives. Cyber exposure management vendor Armis likewise makes the list for its revamped channel program that aims to provide greater simplification and flexibility for partners.

Data protection and resiliency tech provider Veeam is here for its acquisition of a supplier of data protection appliances specifically for Veeam environments. And Security Operations Center startup Torq got everyone’s attention with a $140 million funding round that boosted the company’s valuation to $1.2 billion.

CrowdStrike To Acquire Seraphic Security For Secure Browser Push

CrowdStrike makes this week’s Came to Win list with its deal to acquire Seraphic Security, a startup with technologies for securing enterprise browser usage.

It’s the second acquisition bid for the cybersecurity giant in just the past week, following the disclosure that CrowdStrike had reached a $740 million agreement to acquire identity protection startup SGNL.

CrowdStrike said the Seraphic acquisition aims to bring capabilities for boosting security directly within web browsers to its Falcon platform.

Founded in 2020, Seraphic offers secure enterprise browser technologies delivered via a simplified architecture and reduced cost, according to the company.

Seraphic’s capabilities—including secure web gateway, zero-trust network access and cloud access security browser—also can provide secure access to SaaS-based and private web applications.

CrowdStrike said it plans to combine Seraphic’s “continuous in-session browser protection” with identity protection and authorization capabilities from SGNL as well as with the Falcon platform’s endpoint telemetry and threat intelligence.

The combination will ultimately provide next-generation identity security that “protects every interaction” across endpoints, browser sessions and the cloud, according to CrowdStrike.

New Google Cloud Partner Network Goes Live

Google Cloud’s new partner program, the Google Cloud Partner Network, went live this week with everything from new partner tiers and competencies to new AI features and incentives.

“This is not just an update, it’s a complete transformation,” Philip Larson, managing director of worldwide partner programs at Google Cloud, told CRN in describing the new customer-outcome-focused and AI-powered program.

With the new initiative, Google Cloud is moving its flagship partner program away from tracking the work of traditional requirements—such as business plans and customer stories—and toward rewarding partners around presales influence, co-innovation, post-sales support and, most importantly, customer success.

Among the new program’s highlights are the AI-powered Partner Network Hub, a major advance over traditional partner portals; new Select, Premier and Diamond partner tiers; a total of 21 new competencies including solution, product and industry competencies; a new Gemini-based Statement of Work Analyzer; and an increased emphasis on co-selling.

Veeam Acquires Object First In Move To Expand Data Resiliency

Veeam Software, a top provider of data resilience and data protection, this week acquired Object First, one of Veeam’s top technology partners.

Object First develops purpose-built data protection appliances specifically for Veeam environments. The company, which exited stealth in mid-2022, was co-founded by Ratmir Timashev and Andrei Baronov, who also co-founded Veeam and who continued to support Veeam after it was acquired in early 2020 by Insight Partners, a leading private equity company.

Object First markets a series of appliances the company said ensures that data in Veeam environments is protected by making it immutable. Immutable data refers to data which, once created, cannot be modified or deleted to ensure data integrity.

Object First’s technology, which uses the S3 object storage protocol, is known as Ootbi, or “Out Of The Box Immutability.” Ootbi was designed specifically to work with data stored using Veeam.

Object First appliances complement Veeam’s cloud-based systems, including its popular Veeam Data Cloud Vault, said Dave Russell, Veeam senior vice president and head of strategy, in an email to CRN.

“Many customers want the simplicity of a single supplier for an out-of-the-box, immutable backup target appliance that combines hardware and software. Object First enables Veeam to offer a pre-integrated, easy-to-deploy solution that complements our existing partner ecosystem,” Russell said.

Armis Debuts Refreshed Channel Program To Boost Partner Simplicity, Flexibility

Google Cloud wasn’t the only one making channel program news this week. Cyber exposure management vendor Armis unveiled a revamped channel program that aims to provide greater simplification and flexibility for partners in a bid to increasingly rely on solution providers for the cybersecurity vendor’s next phase of growth, Armis executives told CRN.

The launch of the new Armis Select Partner Program comes just weeks after the announcement that ServiceNow plans to acquire Armis for $7.75 billion. In an interview with CRN, Armis President Alex Mosher and Channel Chief Patrick McCue said the debut of the new program signals a continued commitment to partners—showing that Armis expects to only accelerate its work with the channel going forward.

Armis has already seen rapid growth with the help of partners in recent years, with annual recurring revenue recently crossing $340 million, up 50 percent from the year before.

The introduction of the new channel program is the culmination of efforts by Armis to shift into a “more channel-centric” growth strategy, according to Mosher. The goal now is to “truly lean in” with partners through an array of updates to improve the simplicity and profitability of working with Armis, he said.

Key updates in the new channel program include eliminating program tiers while seeking to better enable a partner’s preferred route to market through the introduction of three different routes a partner can choose from. Partners can participate in one or multiple of the three routes—selling, service delivery and joint solution building.

Agentic SOC Startup Torq Lands $1.2B Valuation With $140M Funding Round

Torq, a hyperautomation startup that has invested heavily in partner enablement over the past year, makes this week’s Came to Win list for its announcement that it extended its valuation to $1.2 billion following a new funding round of $140 million.

The agentic SOC (Security Operations Center) tool provider announced the closing of the Series D funding round, which was led by Merlin Ventures. Torq has now raised a total of $332 million in funding since its launch in 2020.

The startup said it will use the funding to accelerate the expansion of its agentic-powered security operations platform. Key capabilities include enabling dramatically enhanced automation for security analyst activities such as improved alert triage and reduction in alert fatigue.

Torq said the main driver of its recent growth is the release of Torq AI Agents, which provide autonomous analysis and assessment of security incidents. Torq AI Agents are “enabling security teams to build and deploy sophisticated agents with minimal effort,” according to the company.

Recently, Torq has invested heavily in training and enablement for partners due to the fact that many account representatives and presales engineers have not been previously exposed to the security hyperautomation technology that Torq offers, said Sheldon Muir, head of global channels and alliances at Torq, in a previous interview with CRN.