CRN STELLAR STARTUPS
Celebrating The Innovation Drivers
By Rick Whiting and Jane O’Brien
I NNOVATION IS WHAT KEEPS the technology industry revved up and ever-evolving—and startups are the ones behind the wheel. Focusing on new technologies and devel- opments on the startup front is key to a thriving channel. That’s because solution providers looking for a competitive edge should be aware of startups with breakthrough technologies they can use to develop leading-edge solutions for their customers. On the following pages we present the CRN 2023 Stellar Startups list (published in previous years as Emerging Vendors).This year’s list includes more than 100 startups founded in 2017 or later with annual revenue of $1 billion or less that are working with channel partners in North America. Some of the startup companies on this year’s list already have a significant presence in their respective markets, including Wasabi Technologies in cloud storage, Orca Security in cloud security, ThreatLocker in endpoint security, Starburst in big data analytics, and Tecton in AI and machine learning. A number of startups, meanwhile, continue to attract eye-popping investments. In August, Network-as-a-Service provider Nile raised $175 million in a Series C funding round while application develop- ment platform company Endor Labs raised $70 million in SeriesA funding. In September, data analytics startup Mother Duck collected $52.5 million in Series B funding while cybersecurity tech startup Lumu Technologies snagged $30 million, also in a Series B round. Startups can also be attractive acquisitions for established vendors looking to expand their product portfolios with new
technologies. In October Palo Alto Networks struck a deal re- portedly valued at $400 million to acquire cloud data startup Dig Security. In June HashiCorp, a provider of DevOps infra- structure provisioning and management products, acquired BluBracket, a startup developer of software code security and secrets detection tools. Early stage startups often focus on selling to a limited number of early adopter customers as they fine-tune their products, only turning to the channel as they look to expand their sales reach. But startups increasingly recognize that solution providers can play an important role in introducing next-generation products to customers by building solutions around them and offering services to smooth new product adoption. Nile, for example, said it intended to use some of its $175 mil- lion in funding to expand its channel efforts, despite having just exited stealth mode in 2022. “One of our primary goals with this [funding round] is to open more channels through large system integrators and service pro- viders to expand our reach into large global customers,” Vivek Khemani, Nile channels vice president, told CRN . “Our partner program is designed to make it easy for partners to get started and quickly achieve profitability, and by using this funding to focus on our core strengths, we will further our partners’ ability to pioneer network transformation for their customers.”
Gina Narcisi contributed to this story.
26
DECEMBER
Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs