It might not be surprising if you are unfamiliar with Egnyte. Though 11 years old, the enterprise cloud storage company based out of Mountain View, California has maintained a low-key profile. However, let us not get carried away by this. This Dropbox-rival is a force to reckon with.
Founded in 2008, Egnyte offers companies a hybrid model of secure storage that allows users to selectively deploy documents on the cloud as well as on-premise, as per the requirement. The model helps users choose between the accessibility offered by the cloud platform and the compliance provided by on-premise storage.
Unlike its peers, Egnyte has been focusing on remaining profitable, rather than trying to power-boost its top line. Though the company is privately owned and does not release financial numbers, it is widely estimated that it has been making profits for some while now. Rivals Dropbox (DBX) and Box (BOX) are, meanwhile, struggling to make profits.
Topline has also seen a gradual rise, driven by over 14,000 customers. The company is projected to have recorded over $60 million in revenues last year. Egnyte aims to make it $100 million by 2019.
According to a recent report, the enterprise collaboration market in which the company operates is estimated to grow 18% per year to $8.26 billion by 2020. Hence, if Egnyte continues to drive demand for its solutions as it currently does, the market can provide it with plenty of upside.
Dropbox posts Q3 earnings of $0.11 per share vs expected $0.06
Virtually expanding its exposure to more customers, Egnyte recently inked a deal with German software giant SAP SE (SAP). Under the deal, Egnyte brings its own file management capabilities to the latter’s cloud suit, in turn, tapping into SAP’s enormous client base. The company has also been in a co-selling partnership with Microsoft (MSFT) to help maintain the influx of customers.
Google Ventures is one of the primary backers of Egnyte, apart from Seagate Technology, Northgate Capital, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, CenturyLink, and other investors.
Earlier this month, for the first time in five years, the company raised $75 million from Goldman Sachs (GS). All included, Egnyte has so far raised about $137.5 million.
Company CEO Vineet Jain claims that it no longer needs to raise more cash, sidestepping speculations that the company might go public next year. He says that the company has been cash flow positive during the past two years.