Barracuda enlists partners to hit $1 billion target

Barracuda Networks has called on its channel partners to help achieve its target of becoming a $1 billion business.

Outlining the company’s plans at its European partner event in Marbella, Spain this week, Barracuda’s CEO, BJ Jenkins said his goal was to reach $1 billion by 2023.

Privately-owned Barracuda is currently worth $482 million and expects to tip $500 million in the next financial year.

With 100 percent indirect sales, Jenkins described the firm as now being “at the intersection of data and security”, with a portfolio divided into email, data, networking and application security.

“We’ve been transforming. We focused our R&D efforts on email protection, and data networking applications. We’ve invested heavily to provide better tools, the solutions that you can use to provide managed services to your customers,” the chief exec told partners at the event, Discover 19.

One of the biggest drivers of growth, said the firm, is the adoption of Office 365, as well as the increased distribution of applications, which Jenkins said is tied to the adoption of public cloud infrastructure. The firm is also expanding its options in cloud email security, as well as forensic response and detection of threats.

To achieve its goal, Jenkins said the company needs to accelerate growth in its pipeline “at a very rapid rate”. Together with the channel, he said Barracuda must win new customers, as well as increase its share of wallet among its existing base by adding advanced features like its Sentinel product to prevent spear phishing, or PhishLine for security awareness training to its email security customers.

The company has also been making inroads into the enterprise; last year it announced four deals worth more than $1m in EMEA, and its first $5m deal in the region – Barracuda’s fastest growing worldwide.

Barracuda’s growth strategy will involve both organic activity and more acquisitions, said Jenkins – although he stressed any purchase must be a strategic fit. “We’re not buying things out of left field,’” he told Microscope. “We want to make sure that it aligns to the focus areas, and where we see growth.”

Following its acquisition of RMM platform Managed Workplace in February, Jenkins said Barracuda would continue to scale its MSP business. As part of its efforts, the firm has promised the channel more marketing support, training and improved communication. It also said it was working on a simplified the licensing and upgrade process and would “do a better job” of explaining pricing to partners.