Aqua Security Layoffs Hit 10% of Workforce in Rebalance for 'New Reality'

Aqua Security has cut 10% of its workforce as part of layoffs due to changing economic conditions.

Aqua Security CEO and co-founder Dror Davidoff announced the layoffs and other changes in a blog. According to its LinkedIn page, the company’s workforce totals 501-1,000.

Aqua Security’s channel team wasn’t impacted by the layoffs. Since launching its Aqua Advantage Partner Program this past summer, it has seen 200% growth in partner pipeline creation and a strong increase in channel revenue.

Aqua Security joins numerous other companies doing business in the channel that are laying off workers. Others include Nextiva, HP, Asana, Oracle, Salesforce, RingCentral, SADA and more.

“In the past 18 months, we surpassed 500 enterprise customers, doubled our team, more than doubled our revenue, acquired Argon and launched an entirely new product line, Software Supply Chain Security,” Davidoff said. “The favorable economic circumstances rewarded growth above all else, and we took advantage of it. Now, as economic conditions change, we find ourselves once again focused on the responsible path. We must consider profitability and growth, and rebalance for the new reality.”

Aqua Security is doing “everything” it can to help impacted workers with the next step in their careers, he said.

Refocusing Efforts

“From inception, Aqua pioneered this space with a vision for a single platform from code to production,” Davidoff said. “As others embraced and tried to influence the concept, the breadth of cloud-native application protection (CNAPP) rapidly expanded. Today, I am announcing that we are refocusing our efforts on our CNAPP vision: a single, unified platform to stop cloud-native attacks from code to production. This is what our customers are telling us is their priority. And it is very much in line with our strengths. This means that some projects outside of this scope will be shelved while we double down on what our customers want.”

Over the past six months, Aqua Security has focused on making it easier to do business with, he said.

“We will continue to push these efforts, including overhauled licensing and packaging, all to make it easier to do business with Aqua,” Davidoff said. “With increased focus on customer success and professional services, we can help our customers realize the value of the Aqua platform.”

With these changes, Aqua Security is now on a path to profitability, he said.

“While we pioneered this industry, this is not enough to ensure success in our mission,” Davidoff said. “We were the first to market with an integrated solution built to meet the needs of our customers. But solving cloud security is a long-term investment, a partnership of continuous improvement. Now we face a challenge that forces us to make choices and gives us the opportunity to focus on what matters most: building a lasting company. This is a time to unify and remember our mission to protect our customers.”