Nvidia-backed Cohesity to invest $1 bn in India over 5 years: CEO Poonen

Cohesity will invest $1 bn in India over five years, expanding engineering centres in Bengaluru and Pune as it scales AI-driven cybersecurity amid rising global and domestic threat levels

Data security software company Cohesity, which is backed by Nvidia and Japan’s SoftBank, will invest $1 billion in India over the next five years to expand its engineering divisions and market share in the country, the company’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Sanjay Poonen said on Thursday.

 

The company’s artificial intelligence (AI)-powered software helps firms protect and manage their data from cybersecurity threats, which have surged in the age of AI.

 

“We are investing even more in expanding the talented teams here, and they are building the future of data security and empowering our customers to build cutting-edge, AI-driven security and resilience capabilities,” he said.

 

Poonen, a former chief operating officer (COO) of VMware, added that the company’s headcount in the country jumped three times to about 2,200 from just 700 after the acquisition of Veritas’ data protection business last year. It has also started its new centre in Bengaluru, besides the existing one in Pune.

 

Cohesity, whose customers include Salesforce and Delta Airlines, counts some of the top banks, telcos, and IT service providers such as Infosys among its clients in India. The country is among the top ten for it in terms of revenue contribution, with the US accounting for more than 50 per cent.

 

“With the investments, we will perhaps see India among the top five in revenue contribution in the next few years,” Poonen said.

 

A major focus for the Indian centres will be on software engineering and support. India is not a primary driver of the company’s product development, customer engagement, and competitive advantage. It is scaling rapidly across engineering, product design, operations, and customer-facing roles, with more focus on hiring engineering graduates.

 

Within engineering, the teams work in three areas — multi-cloud data protection, advanced security, and AI. “The India team often takes the lead in multi-cloud workload connector, which happens between Bengaluru and Pune. Many of those projects are started in India and finished in the US, depending on where the lead of the engineering team is based. There will also be more focus on security and AI-related work in the future,” he said.

 

A survey by the company shows 61 per cent of Indian respondents confirming a cyberattack incident in their respective organisations in the last 12 months, and almost all saying it took more than 24 hours to restore data from backups after an attack, with 12 per cent needing almost a week.