Acalvio Gets $17 Million in Investor Funding, Details Big Plans for Channel

Cybersecurity startup Acalvio Technologies emerged from stealth on Tuesday with $17 million in funding from top-tier investors and plans to sell 100 percent through the channel.

The investment from Accel Ventures, Ignition Partners and Eileses Capital will accelerate deployment and adoption of its Deception 2.0 technology for advanced threat defense, to detect, engage and respond to malicious activity inside the perimeter.

Chad Scrupps, Acalvio’s vice president of sales, tells Channel Partners that his company is working with a few select resellers that are actively contributing to its strategic design partnerships. It plans to work with top-tier regional cybersecurity VARs and service providers that “understand the challenges our customers face,” he said.

“Partners will be an extension of the Acalvio team, and will receive high-touch support through every stage of an opportunity — from demand generation, qualification and closing, to longer-term service and support relationships,” he said. “Acalvio will provide the technical education partners need, in addition to upsell opportunities, that enable long-term success as trusted advisers.”{ad}

Acalvio’s approach to deception will allow its partners to benefit from bigger margins “compared to our competitors and legacy hardware-based security providers,” Scrupps said.

“The formal launch of the partner program will be planned around our general-availability announcement, which will take place later this year,” he said.

According to TechSci Research, the global market for deception technology is projected to exceed $1.7 billion by 2021. This projection is based on an increasing number of cyberattacks such as malwares, distributed denial of service (DDoS), advanced persistent threats (APTs), zero day attacks and more.

“We see Acalvio as a potential game changer with their Deception 2.0 approach,” said Nick Sturiale, managing partner of Ignition Partners and Acalvio board member. “With a series of patented innovations and a track record of execution, we are very excited to support Acalvio in its goals to achieve a leadership position in the deception space, an area that has immense potential and promise.”