Israeli-US data protection platform OwnBackup has informed its employees that 170 of them will be laid off. The cuts are mainly in the US with a small number of layoffs in Israel.
OwnBackup CEO Sam Gutmann told employees that the cuts would enable the company to focus on 'efficient growth.' Before the layoffs, OwnBackup had 1,000 employees including 190 in Israel. Like most Israeli unicorns the company has grown rapidly, doubling its workforce from 500 to 1,000 since August 2021. The workforce in Israel has grown from 120 to 190 over that period.
OwnBackup's most recent financing round was in August 2021, when it raised $240 million at a valuation of $3.35 billion - double the valuation it had received in January 2021. Much of the $240 million raised in August 2021 was in secondary deals to existing shareholders including the founders and employees who sold options.
The company was founded in 2015 by Israelis Ariel Berkman and Ori Yankelev, with US entrepreneur Sam Gutmann (CEO). Two other founders, Eran Cohen and Daniel Gershuni, left the company at an early stage. Since its inception, the company has been headquartered in New Jersey with its development center in Israel.
The company was initially based on a laboratory for the recovery and rescue of information from memory cards and hard disks, which Berkman founded. Following demand from customers, he developed systems for backing up data within content on the cloud like Facebook, G-Mail and LinkedIn. After teaming up with Gutmann and Yankelev, OwnBackup changed direction and began focusing on backing up data in the Salesforce environment, which remains the company's main product today. The company also supports Microsoft Dynamic 360 and ServiceNow and other products. According to Gutmann, the company has 5,000 customers.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on November 16, 2022.
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