eFolder Acquires Cloudfinder For Tech To Back Up Cloud App Data

Cloud-based data protection and disaster recovery technology developer eFolder Monday said it acquired Cloudfinder, developer of a platform that provides data protection and migration services between multiple cloud-based applications.

With the acquisition, Atlanta-based eFolder gains Cloudfinder's single console technology for backing up and searching data and emails from Office 365, Google Apps and Salesforce, said Marcus Nyman, CEO of Sweden-based Cloudfinder.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Prior to the acquisition, Cloudfinder had received an equity investment of about 20 million Swedish krona, or about $3 million.

[Related: File Sync And Share: Channel In Demand To Help Business Users]

Cloudfinder was founded in March 2012 to develop backup technology for cloud-based applications, Nyman told CRN. The company first started working with Google Apps resellers as that was the fastest-growing cloud application at the time, but decided to not build backup applications for Google Apps exclusively, he said.

"We told investors early on we could do Google Apps backup-only technology in half the time, but that we would be sorry later if we did so," he said. "So we built our app to deal with SaaS data from a variety of services. In 2012, we decided we couldn't determine which apps would be the most successful. For instance, we never imagined that Office 365 would beat Google Apps."

Cloudfinder, like eFolder, was a channel-only company from the day it was founded, Nyman said.

Cloudfinder, which had just started working with U.S.-based MSPs before being approached by eFolder to talk about a possible acquisition, offers a single platform for managing data and emails from Google Apps, Office 365 and Salesforce.com, Nyman said.

"We provide a single search console to search across all services as well as across traditional backups," he said. "So someone may use our platform to discover an email generated by Google Apps and then restore it to Office 365. That makes it easy to shift from one service to another while maintaining a common platform."

eFolder made a smart move in adding a cloud-to-cloud backup service to its offering, said Luis Alvarez, president and CEO of Alvarez Technology Group, a Salinas, Calif.-based MSP and eFolder partner.

Alvarez, responding via email to a query by CRN, said he thinks eFolder will have to expand the Cloudfinder service to include other cloud-based services.

NEXT: MSPs Like eFolder's Cloudfinder Acquisition, Hope Market Catches Up Soon

"For example, we use Azure to host some of our clients’ systems but have made a decision to back up those systems to other cloud-based providers rather than put all of our eggs in one basket," Alvarez wrote. "If eFolder could provide that service at a competitive price, as a partner, we’d love to use it."

Alan Helbush, president of Where to Start, a Newark, Calif.-based MSP and a member of eFolder's partner advisory council, said eFolder got a good response from the council when it first broached the idea of acquiring Cloudfinder, and that he has since looked closely at Cloudfinder's offering and found it a good fit for eFolder.

The biggest issue, Helbush told CRN, is whether the market is ready for the kind of solution Cloudfinder provides.

"I'm not sure the market is ready yet," he said. "People assume that once they put something in the cloud, they can get it back. People assume that something put in Salesforce.com can be gotten back."

That conception is far from reality, but it will take time to help the market understand it, Helbush said.

"This is an up-and-coming thing," he said. "eFolder is way ahead of the curve. There are some niche players who go after protecting Google Docs. But no one goes after a wider range of platforms."

Cloudfinder decided to be acquired as a way to get to the market quickly, Nyman said.

"eFolder gives us the opportunity to tap into an existing channel engine," he said. "Without this acquisition, eFolder would have to build something like Cloudfinder. And we would have to build an eFolder-like channel. eFolder saved an enormous amount of development time. And we saved an enormous amount of channel-building time."

This is not the first time eFolder has expanded its capabilities via an acquisition. eFolder in September acquired Anchor Box, a startup developer of file sync and share technology with a focus on indirect channel partners. And, in 2009, eFolder acquired DoubleCheck, a developer of security software for filtering emails.

PUBLISHED JUNE 10, 2014