Dell EMC Sells SaaS Backup Firm Spanning to Private Equity

SaaS data protection provider Spanning Cloud Apps announced on Thursday that it has been acquired by affiliates of Insight Venture Partners from Dell EMC, which acquired Spanning in October 2014. Terms of the deal have not been disclosed.

With the transaction Spanning Cloud Apps will become an independent company operating under the Spanning brand in Austin, Texas. According to a statement, Dell EMC will remain a strategic partner and continue to sell Spanning Backup.

Spanning offers backup for SaaS applications like G Suite, Office 365 and Salesforce applications.

The independent company will be led by Jeff Erramouspe, who previously served as CEO of Spanning before it was acquired by EMC. All 56 current employees will remain with the company.

“As we look towards the future for Spanning, we see an incredible opportunity to bring our solution for SaaS data backup and recovery to organizations around the world,” Erramouspe said in a statement. “The support from Insight gives us the freedom and fuel to continue to provide the best in SaaS data protection solutions and continue to grow stronger as we enter this new stage in our company’s journey. At the same time, Dell EMC maintains a strategic partner that helps their customers protect critical SaaS data.”

Spanning has seen 70 percent year-over-year revenue growth and more than 7,000 customers, according to a press release. It restored around 18 million items for customers in 2016, and expects to continue growth with its global data center expansion, and distribution agreements with major channel partners.

Insight has invested in other SaaS companies including New Relic and Shopify, Fortune reports.

“We’ve seen a marked increase in SaaS adoption in the enterprise, especially in large and mid-market organizations,” Philip Vorobeychik, Vice President at Insight said. “With that comes a greater awareness of the fact that companies are responsible for recovery of data lost due to user error or malicious activity. We believe Spanning has all the ingredients for continued success and market leadership – a great team devoted to customer success, innovative products, committed customers and a strong global presence.”