Remote IT management and MSP software provider Atera has raised $77 million in Series B funding at a $500 million valuation, the company confirmed today. General Atlantic led the round with participation from K1 Investment Management.
Atera's cloud-based software spans RMM (remote monitoring and management), PSA (professional services automation), help desk, reporting and operations management in a single platform. Atera now serves more than 7,000 customers across 90 countries -- up from 4,000 customers as of February 2020.
Atera did not say how many of those 7,000 customers are MSPs, nor did Atera mention how many end-points are under management. The company had more than 1 million devices under management as of February 2020.
The Series B round is Atera's second raise of 2021. The company announced a $25 million Series A round led by K1 in February 2021.
Atera Competition & Disruptive MSP Software Pricing Model
Generally speaking, Atera competes against three groups of IT automation, management and monitoring software companies:
- Entrenched players such as ConnectWise, Datto, Kaseya, N-able and NinjaRMM;
- emerging upstarts such as SuperOps.ai and Syncro; and
- corporate IT service management (ITSM), help desk and monitoring tools.
Disruptive Pricing: Atera and some rival upstarts have disruptive pricing strategies. Instead of charging MSPs on a per-managed-node basis, Atera charges on a per technician user model. The result: MSPs that run Atera can add more customer end-points to the system without increasing IT software costs. Monthly charges for Atera don't rise unless MSPs are adding more of their own technicians to the system.
Beating Ransomware Attacks on MSPs: Many MSPs run Atera as their primary RMM and PSA system. But additional MSPs now run Atera as a redundant, secondary (i.e., emergency) RMM system on selected customer systems. The reasoning: If the MSP's primary RMM platform suffers a ransomware attack, the MSP can quickly switch to Atera and scale the system across all customer endpoints, multiple MSP sources have told ChannelE2E.
Some of those sources are evaluating complete migrations to Atera. In the meantime, leveraging one Atera user license to run the software as a secondary RMM system provides a low-cost way for MSPs to become familiar with Atera and build RMM redundancies -- without forcing an overnight "rip and replace" strategy on MSP help desks, the sources say.
Atera Series B Funding: Executive and Investor Perspectives
In a prepared statement about the Series B funding round, Atera CEO Gil Pekelman said:
“The global ecosystem has changed, and the need for the fast and easy deployment of IT services is more critical than ever to keep businesses running smoothly. To meet this new reality, we are investing even more into our research, development, and innovation efforts to enhance and accelerate the product offerings and features our customers need most. We are dedicated to upgrading our platform both to better serve our customers but to likewise provide them with the ability to seamlessly scale their business and IT management offerings, friction-free.”
Added Alex Crisses, managing director, global head of new investment sourcing and co-head of emerging growth at General Atlantic:
“Atera has developed a compelling all-in-one platform that provides immense value for its customer base, and we are thrilled to be supporting the company in this important moment of its growth trajectory. We are excited to work with a category-defining Israeli company, extending General Atlantic’s presence in the country’s cutting-edge technology sector and marking our fifth investment in the region. We look forward to partnering with Gil, Oshri (CTO and Co-Founder), and the Atera team to help the company realize its vision.”
Concluded Gary Reiner, operating partner at General Atlantic:
“Atera is a high-growth company whose suite of tech-driven tools is built upon modern, agile architecture, enabling companies both large and small to approach the new world of work intuitively and efficiently. Atera has positioned itself as a one-stop, frictionless solution that is helping to transform the traditional role of MSPs and IT teams to proactive and predictive remediation partners.”
MSP Software Industry Investments: Private Equity and Venture Capital
Investments in the MSP software industry remain steady and strong. Indeed, funding announcements in 2021 and 2020 have involved Auvik, Liongard, Scalepad and SuperOps.ai, among many others.
The global managed IT services market will reach $354.8 billion by 2026, up from $242.9 billion in 2021, according to MarketsAndMarkets research. That’s a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.9 percent during the forecast period, the market research firm says. In contrast, the MSSP (managed security services provider) market is growing closer to 12 percent to 15 percent annually, MSSP Alert forecasts.
