Versa Networks to channel: Help us spend $84m to get word out on what we actually do

SASE start-up admits majority of end users 'remain confused' about the meaning of SASE as it bags Series D funding

A secure access service edge (SASE) start-up vendor has earmarked $84m in funding partly for brand awareness activities via the channel.

Versa Networks billed SASE as "the fastest growing category in networking and security", but admitted that many end users are still fuzzy about what SASE means.

It will pump its latest Series D funding - which brings its total funding to $196m - into "new go-to-market strategies", and "new sales and partner enablement initiatives", as well as addressing new markets.

More specifically, the focus will be on "raising awareness within the market on SASE and the benefits it can bring", with funding earmarked for "driving global educational marketing and sales campaigns, as well as further supporting its partner communities to spread the message to enterprises across the globe".

Founded in 2012, San Jose-based Versa enlisted Nuvias as its EMEA distributor last year, before launching its inaugural partner programme in January.

Although Gartner predicts the SASE market will grow at a CAGR of 42 per cent to hit nearly $11bn by 2024 - with a least 40 per cent of enterprises having it on their roadmap by then - Versa conceded that the majority of organisations "remain confused about its meaning".

Some 31 per cent of 500 IT decision maker respondents Versa itself quizzed in a recent survey correctly identified the definition of SASE as "the convergence of networking and security services like CASB, FWaaS and Zero Trust into a single cloud-native service model", it said.

"We are the only company that offers a fully integrated SASE solution," said CEO Kelly Ahuja (pictured, front row, seventh from right).

"We saw the opportunity in the market and have been providing enterprises around the world with a truly modern secure network for five years, so it is exciting that the rest of the industry now recognises the real value and benefits that SASE can provide."

"This is a technology that is on course to really take off in the coming year and beyond, and this investment means that we are best placed to be at the helm of that rocket ship as SASE becomes the star in businesses' security and networking arsenal."

Joaquin Rodriguez Torres, managing partner and co-founder at Princeville Capital - which was one of two investors that co-led the latest funding round - characterised SASE as "quickly becoming the top priority of every enterprise and is a market that is on the cusp of explosive success".