Data management startup Alcion Inc. today announced that it has raised $21 million in new funding to support the general availability and global go-to-market expansion of the company’s artificial intelligence-driven backup-as-a-service platform for Microsoft 365.

Founded in 2022, Alcion provides Microsoft 365 administrators with a platform to protect against ransomware, malware, corruption and accidental data loss. The company’s platform takes a multi-layered approach to security to combat ransomware and malware using threat detection, intelligent backup scheduling, encryption and delete protection.

Alcion argues that the high-value and increasing amounts of business-critical data stored in Microsoft 365 make the service a prime target for malicious actors and new classes of ransomware. Although Microsoft ensures the reliability and availability of Microsoft 365 infrastructure, Alcion claims that it does not protect against cases in which cyberattacks or accidents lead to data loss.

The platform includes AI-driven ransomware protection models that constantly learn from user behavior and operate on a per-user or resource level to detect targeted attacks.

Under the hood, Alcion is based on Corso, its open-source project for Microsoft 365 backup. The platform provides comprehensive backup and restores workflows, enabling reliable and fault-tolerant backups.

The company launched out of stealth in March with $8 million in funding and has seen strong growth, including a 700% increase in organizations using the platform. Notable customers include Milestone Financial Engineers Inc., DataNinja Pty. Ltd., Kesta IT Services Ltd. and Rossman Partners LLP.

The new funding will also be used by Alcion to build features for its managed service provider customers as well as extend data protection features for additional software-as-a-service services apart from Microsoft 365.

“This round of funding positions us to rapidly scale our mission of protecting all the world’s data against both malicious threats and accidents,” said co-founder and Chief Executive Niraj Tolia. “Alcion customers and the rapidly growing open-source Corso community will benefit from greater functionality, ease of use and heightened ransomware detection.”

The Series A round was led by Veeam Software Inc., taking the total raised by Alcion to $29 million. Previous investors include Lip-Bu Tan, an Intel Corp. board member and chairman of venture capital firm Walden International, as well as Postman Technologies Inc. founder and CEO Abhinav Asthana, DataRobot CEO Debanjan Saha and Amarjit Gill, an investor at Nepenthe Capital LLC.

Image: Alcion