Cohesity
UpdatedCohesity, founded in June 2013 by Mohit Aron, pioneered hyperconverged infrastructure at Nutanix before pivoting to data protection and backup.
Profile
Sells unified data protection, cyber resilience, and AI-powered backup software to enterprise customers across hybrid cloud and on-premises environments.
Cohesity, founded in June 2013 by Mohit Aron, pioneered hyperconverged infrastructure at Nutanix before pivoting to data protection and backup. The Santa Clara-based company has grown into the world's largest data protection software provider following its December 2024 merger with Veritas' enterprise data protection business. Founder Aron, now founder emeritus, stepped back from daily operations when Sanjay Poonen joined as CEO in August 2022 (Poonen previously served as COO at VMware).
In May 2024, AI expert Craig Martell (ex-U.S. Department of Defence chief digital officer, ex-Lyft head of ML) joined as CTO, signaling acceleration in the company's AI agenda. For the fiscal year ending July 2024, the combined entity reported revenue exceeding $1.7 billion, annual recurring revenue of $1.5 billion, and a 28 percent adjusted cash EBITDA margin—making Cohesity the fastest data protection company to cross $1.5 billion in revenue.
Post-merger, the company serves over 13,600 enterprise customers, including 85 of the Fortune 100 and roughly 70 percent of the Global 500, and protects more than 100 exabytes of data. The product portfolio spans three pillars: traditional backup and disaster recovery, cyber resilience (immutable vaults and threat-hunting), and AI-powered search (Gaia), which uses retrieval-augmented generation to surface insights from backup data. In May 2026, Cohesity expanded its seven-year partnership with HPE to include new resell agreements and deeper technical integrations. CEO Poonen has signaled an IPO in 2026, targeting a valuation comparable to or exceeding Rubrik's $17 billion public market debut, contingent on presenting a full year of combined financials.
Who buys this
- Large enterprises managing petabytes of multi-cloud data across VMware, Kubernetes, and SaaS workloads
- Financial services firms requiring immutable backup vaults and ransomware recovery
- Healthcare systems protecting Electronic Health Records with compliance and rapid recovery
- Logistics and manufacturing (Fortune 500 scale) protecting mission-critical operational data
- Organizations deploying Cohesity for continuous data protection and ransomware resilience
Publicly disclosed clients
- Conagra
- Nasdaq
- AutoNation
- UnitedHealthcare
- Toyota
- FedEx
- Delta Airlines
- Brigham Young University
- Broadcom
- Siemens
Strengths and what to watch
Strengths
- Market leader position: #1 data protection software provider by market share (19% post-Veritas), only vendor to be a Gartner Leader in all 20 consecutive backup reports
- Strong unit economics: $1.5B ARR with 28% adjusted EBITDA margin despite scale, plus access to AI expertise through Nvidia partnership
- AI differentiation: Gaia (retrieval-augmented generation on backup data) integrated with Microsoft 365 Copilot and deployed with Nvidia infrastructure
Watch for
- IPO execution risk in 2026: Valuation ambitions ($17B+) comparable to Rubrik depend on sustained ARR growth and margin discipline post-merger
- Veritas customer integration: June 2024 layoffs (including CMO Lynn Lucas) and employee complaints about transparency and culture may accelerate churn during transition; employee reviews cite poor compensation and lack of direction
- Competitive dynamics: Rubrik's IPO at $17B and Veeam's market position create pricing pressure; Cohesity's claim of market parity with Veeam has not been independently audited
Recent moves
- 5w ago Cohesity expands HPE partnership with new resell agreements and technical integrations, including HPE Morpheus and Zerto
- 3mo ago Cohesity outlines post-Veritas merger strategy focused on retention, growth acceleration, and AI-driven differentiation across three tiers
- 4mo ago Cohesity recognized as Gartner Peer Insights Customers' Choice for the seventh consecutive year
- 9mo ago CEO Sanjay Poonen signals 2026 IPO targeting $17 billion valuation, comparable to Rubrik, contingent on full-year combined results
- 12mo ago Cohesity positioned as Leader in 2025 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Backup and Data Protection Platforms for sixth consecutive year
Key Information
- Industry
- Storage
- Founded
- 2013
- Headquarters
- United States
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Cohesity?
Cohesity is the world's largest data protection software provider, offering unified backup, disaster recovery, cyber resilience, and AI-powered data search. The company serves over 13,600 enterprise customers, including 85 of the Fortune 100, protecting more than 100 exabytes of data across hybrid cloud and on-premises environments.
What are Cohesity's core products?
Cohesity's portfolio spans three pillars: traditional backup and disaster recovery for enterprises, cyber resilience featuring immutable vaults and threat-hunting capabilities, and AI-powered search called Gaia. Gaia uses retrieval-augmented generation to surface insights from backup data and is integrated with Microsoft 365 Copilot.
Which companies use Cohesity for data protection?
Cohesity serves over 13,600 enterprise customers, including 85 of the Fortune 100 and roughly 70 percent of the Global 500. Named clients include Conagra, Nasdaq, AutoNation, UnitedHealthcare, Toyota, FedEx, Delta Airlines, Broadcom, and Siemens. The company protects more than 100 exabytes of data globally.
What makes Cohesity a market leader?
Cohesity is the #1 data protection software provider by market share at 19 percent post-Veritas merger. It's the only vendor recognized as a Gartner Leader in all 20 consecutive backup reports and achieved Gartner Customers' Choice recognition for the seventh consecutive year.
When is Cohesity planning to go public?
CEO Sanjay Poonen signaled an IPO in 2026, targeting a valuation comparable to or exceeding Rubrik's $17 billion public market debut. The timing is contingent on presenting a full year of combined financials post-Veritas merger, which was completed in December 2024.
What AI features does Cohesity offer?
Cohesity's AI-powered search platform, Gaia, uses retrieval-augmented generation to surface insights from backup data. It integrates with Microsoft 365 Copilot and runs on Nvidia infrastructure. In May 2024, the company appointed Craig Martell as CTO to accelerate its AI agenda, signaling deeper investment in AI-driven data protection capabilities.
How Cohesity compares
Direct head-to-head against 3 competitors. Picked by 7wData.
Cohesity
- Positioning
- Sells unified data protection, cyber resilience, and AI-powered backup software to enterprise customers across hybrid cloud and on-premises environments.
- Customer segments
- Large enterprises managing petabytes of multi-cloud data across VMware, Kubernetes, and SaaS workloads
- Strengths
- Market leader position: #1 data protection software provider by market share (19% post-Veritas), only vendor to be a Gartner Leader in all 20 consecutive backup reports
- Watch for
- IPO execution risk in 2026: Valuation ambitions ($17B+) comparable to Rubrik depend on sustained ARR growth and margin discipline post-merger
- Recent moves
- Cohesity expands HPE partnership with new resell agreements and technical integrations, including HPE Morpheus and Zerto
Rubrik
- Positioning
- Public-market cyber resilience vendor (NYSE: RBRK, IPO April 2024); Gartner rated furthest in Completeness of Vision for backup, 2025.
- Customer segments
- Mid-to-large enterprises in financial services, healthcare, and public sector; growing MSP channel for mid-market accounts.
- Strengths
- SaaS-native immutable backup with built-in ransomware threat detection, rated highest in Ability to Execute by Gartner 2025.
- Watch for
- Gartner Peer Insights reviewers cite pricing complexity and renewal cost escalation after initial contract; post-IPO sales pressure reported.
- Recent moves
- Acquired AI infrastructure startup Predibase for over $100M in June 2025 to build agentic capabilities into its security platform.
Veeam
- Positioning
- Largest data protection software vendor by market share per IDC (13.6% in 2H 2025); channel-dominant, covering 450,000+ customers globally.
- Customer segments
- Mid-market and enterprise IT teams protecting VMware, Hyper-V, cloud, and SaaS workloads; distributed globally via MSP and reseller channel.
- Strengths
- Broadest hypervisor, cloud, and SaaS platform coverage in the segment; 13.6% market share per IDC 2H 2025, highest of any single vendor.
- Watch for
- Securiti AI acquisition ($1.725B, December 2025) materially expands platform scope; integration coherence and delivery timeline remain unproven at scale.
- Recent moves
- Completed acquisition of Securiti AI for $1.725B in December 2025, adding data security posture management and AI governance capabilities.
Commvault
- Positioning
- Publicly traded (NASDAQ: CVLT) enterprise backup and cyber resilience vendor; promotes ResOps as a converged IT and security operations model.
- Customer segments
- Large enterprises in regulated industries (financial services, healthcare, government) with multi-cloud and on-premises environments requiring compliance-grade recovery.
- Strengths
- Granular compliance policy management across hybrid cloud; Gartner Magic Quadrant Leader for 14+ consecutive years in enterprise backup.
- Watch for
- Licensing complexity and sizing difficulty are persistent complaints in Gartner Peer Insights reviews; pricing seen as high versus cloud-native alternatives.
- Recent moves
- Announced joint cyber resilience architecture with NetApp at RSAC in March 2026, targeting immutable vault and clean-room recovery jointly.
Sources
- www.cohesity.com — Core business, product portfolio, customer scale, market position
- www.storagenewsletter.com — Founder, CEO, financial metrics (FY2024 ARR $1.5B, revenue $1.7B, EBITDA margin 28%), customer count (13,600), data protection scale
- blocksandfiles.com — Leadership transition: Mohit Aron to founder emeritus, Craig Martell as CTO (May 2024), Martell's background
- www.cohesity.com — Veritas merger completion (December 10, 2024), combined valuation ($7B), pro forma financials, customer count (12,000+), market position
- blocksandfiles.com — Three-tier business model (backup, security, AI), CEO commentary on growth and market position, Gaia AI differentiation
- www.cohesity.com — Named enterprise customers (Conagra, Nasdaq, Bethany Children's Health Center, AutoNation, UnitedHealthcare, Toyota, FedEx, Delta, Broadcom, Phillips 66)
- www.cnbc.com — IPO plans for 2026, $17B valuation target, Nvidia investment (Series F 2024), CEO commentary
- www.blocksandfiles.com — Post-merger integration strategy, April 2025 tender offer valuation ($8B), market share (19%), Rule of 40 financial target
- www.cohesity.com — May 2026 HPE partnership expansion, resell agreements, technical integrations, 177% YoY growth in Europe
- www.cohesity.com — Gartner Magic Quadrant Leader (6th consecutive year), only vendor in all 20 reports, Customers' Choice recognition
- www.glassdoor.com — June 2024 layoffs, employee sentiment on culture, transparency concerns, compensation complaints
- www.business-standard.com — June 2024 layoffs, CMO Lynn Lucas departure