SD-WAN 'Disruptor' Aryaka Nabs $45M In Funding Following A 100 Percent Sales Spike In 2016
Software-defined WAN specialist Aryaka has landed $45 million in funding following a stellar 2016, when the company saw its revenues jump 100 percent and its indirect sales soared.
"This is the golden era right now of disruption, we've never seen anything like it and Aryaka is one of those companies doing it," said Drew Lydecker, president and co-founder of Avant Communications, a Chicago-based master agent and Aryaka partner. "Aryaka really stands in their own pool. Nobody has a Layer 2 network that is truly within 10 milliseconds from every customer on the planet. If you're looking to improve performance around the globe, it's almost impossible to not think of Aryaka right now."
Milpitas, Calif.-based Aryaka announced today it had captured $45 million in a Series D round of financing, with investment plans around channel partner enablement and global expansion.
"We're going to invest more into channel enablement, training programs, marketing, sales and to develop future products," said Gary Sevounts, chief marketing officer of Aryaka, in an interview with CRN. "We're going to extend our global reach. We have addressed 95 percent percent of the world, we're now going to expand it in certain areas … The only way for us to succeed and grow is to enable our channel partners."
The $45 million in funding was led by Deutsche Telekom Capital Partners and Third Point Ventures. Aryaka has raised $120 million in funding since being founded in 2009.
Sevounts said Aryaka is disrupting the telecom industry which has allowed the company to deliver over 100 percent year-over-year growth for five consecutive quarters.
"We're disrupting major telecommunication companies. Companies like Verizon, AT&T, they just can't deliver technology like we have," said Sevounts. "MPLS was not designed for cloud connectivity, especially around [Software as a Service] applications. It t has reached its limit as a technology."
The vendor now has more than 500 global enterprise customers with sites in 63 countries around the world. Recent large enterprise wins for Aryaka include Air China and Skullcandy.
"The telcos are stuck, not all of them, but most of them are stuck. Their revenue from MPLS is shrinking," said Sevounts. "It's very hard to build this technology, but we've done it. We're disrupting that space and going forward with our partners."
Aryaka's indirect sales have spiked and now represent about 80 percent of the company's revenues.
Aryaka's Global SD-WAN combines a purpose-built private network, SD-WAN, optimization and acceleration techniques, connectivity to cloud platforms, and network visibility in a single solution that is delivered as a service.
"We have built a global private network. Think about it as a software-define MPLS. Then we have built technology on top of it that is native to this type of connectivity -- which includes SD-WAN, WAN optimization, network monitoring -- then it's delivered as a service," said Sevounts. "It's the only solution out there that addressed all connectivity needs for the enterprise -- anything from site-to-site traffic, non-mission critical applications to mission critical applications to mobile communications … Enterprises don't have to buy five different solutions from 20 different vendors anymore."
Avant's Lydecker said customers are looking for someone to help them understand the "massive disruption" occurring in the market as more applications are moving outside the data center.
"This disruption is coming from companies like Aryaka who are building products that are going to game-change a company," said Lydecker. "Aryaka takes those applications and injects them with the speed, the agility, the ability to take advantage of the public internet -- it's an incredible opportunity, and the channel community has this at their fingertips."