Kirkland-based cybersecurity company Veeam is looking to bolster its presence in the Seattle area.
The company has about 80 of its more than 5,500 total employees based out of the Kirkland office in Carillon Point, which opened in September. Veeam was previously based in Columbus, Ohio, where it still has about 300 to 350 employees, but Veeam CEO Anand Eswaran felt the Seattle area was a good fit and has called the area its headquarters for several months.
"I would love to have more senior leaders based out of the Seattle office," Eswaran said. "As we hire and as we grow, I'm sure we'll have a few good talent-adds in Seattle as a hub for us."
Eswaran added that local cloud and engineering talent are particularly attractive to Veeam.
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Veeam, founded in 2006, focuses on data protection, data backups and data recovery. Private equity firm Insight Partners acquired Veeam in 2020 for $5 billion. According to Veeam, it has more than 450,000 customers, including Shell, Deloitte and Airbus.
In April, Veeam acquired Coveware for an undisclosed amount. Coveware helps clients navigate ransomware attacks, or when attackers gain access to data and extort victims for money before releasing the data. The company helps clients identify ransomware attacks, conduct secure negotiations and handle settlements.
Eswaran said Veeam has about 17,320 square feet at Carillon Point. Veeam doesn't have a specific growth target for its local headcount.
In addition to collaborative workspaces, Veeam makes its Kirkland office appealing through chefs the company brings in to prepare meals. Eswaran said the most memorable recent meal he ate at the office included handmade pasta, broccolini and cauliflower. Eswaran is a vegetarian, but others at the office sampled the wagyu beef. Desert was a flourless dark chocolate brownie.
"For me, food is just a means to get to dessert," Eswaran said. "It was fabulous."
Veeam also chose the Seattle area because of its partnerships with tech giants Microsoft and Amazon. Joint Microsoft and Veeam customers can stop by the Kirkland headquarters if they are already in town visiting Microsoft.
Eswaran joined the company as CEO in late 2021. He spent two years as president and chief operating officer at RingCentral before that, and he spent four years at Microsoft before RingCentral. Before opening the Kirkland office, Eswaran said, Veeam's Seattle-area employees worked remotely or occasionally at coworking spaces.
Eswaran was initially not ready to join when recruiters reached out to him about the role at Veeam. They persisted, he said, and he spent over four months talking with the team at Insight Partners before taking the role. Eswaran said recent ransomware breaches indicated to him that Veeam was tackling the right problem at the right time.
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