Cequence execs on the rise in API protection in the channel

Andy Mills and Bruce Hockin discuss the expansion of API protection and why the company’s going 100 per cent channel-focused

Unified API protection startup, Cequence, has recently shifted its strategy to 100 per cent channel, quoting a shift in the channel's interest for its technology.

"When we first kicked off in EMEA, our policy was to go with the channel, but at the time the product was very technical and the channel couldn't really get their heads around it," says Andy Mills, VP of EMEA for Cequence.

"It wasn't simple enough to sell, or simple enough for implementation. So, we found that partners started off really excited and then eventually they drifted off on products that were easier to sell and easier to implement.

"So that was when we started three years ago. Since then, the API security market has exploded, and the partner community caught up with the sector and now it's a whole lot easier and people know how to sell it.

"Organisations are looking for API security and API protection, so the market is maturing and it's becoming an easier channel model, and a channel sale."

Cequence was founded in 2014 and since then the company has received around $100m in funding. Most recently, it received $60m in a series C funding led by Menlo Ventures.

The vendor employs over 150 employees globally.

In H2 FY23, Cequence reported a 555 per cent growth in customer expansion and 230 per cent ARR growth.

A channel opportunity

Bruce Hockin, EMEA channel director at Cequence, says that the channel presents an opportunity for the firm as there's still a lot of "whitespace".

"The channel is relatively passive, so the whole channel is relatively immature around API protection, if you go back three years ago, people really didn't know what it was it probably even went under another name.

"So what is critical to us is education into the channel, and incentivising the right partners.

"The focus for now is around telecommunications, finance and retail that forms the main body of our success to date. And they are the organisations most impacted by API challenges.

"Those sectors are the ones growing their APIs because APIs drive their innovation and growth."

Cequence started developing a one-tier partner programme in the last 9-12 months and has been slowly releasing it to partners with the aim of making an official announcement in late 2023 or early 2024.

"It's a very early programme at the moment, but we've purposefully made sure that it's very focused, it's simplistic and it removes that cost and those barriers to entry.

"We've made sure we've got a very effective deal registration programme, we've made sure that our asset library is top class, and that all the relevant content is in there so the partners can engage early.

"We are very much in scale-out mode, we're very active in the channel, we're very dynamic and we want to make sure that those partners don't have to rely on us sending them emails to make sure they have the latest content."

Mills concludes with his opinion on the market: "This is a growing market and it's growing exponentially. Everybody, every business will do something about API security.

"It's just what they do and when they do it, that is the key question."