Bootstrapped Yet Profitable: Database Management Startup Webyog, With 2.5 Mn Users, Gets Acquired By Idera

Bengaluru-headquartered database management startup Webyog recently made news headlines for getting acquired by Texas-based Idera in an all-cash deal.

This is Idera’s second acquisition in less than a year, after it took over AquaFold, a cross-platform database tools provider, in July 2017. As said, Idera aims to leverage Webyog’s tools to further expand and bolster its product portfolio to include solutions that support open source databases like MySQL.

Interestingly, Webyog has remained bootstrapped since its launch in 2006 by Rohit Nadhani, who happens to be the cousin of FusionCharts founder and CEO Pallav Nadhani. As part of the move, the Webyog team has been absorbed by Idera and will continue to expand their products and services.

However, as they say, “Once an entrepreneur, always an entrepreneur.” For Rohit, the journey doesn’t end here. Post the acquisition of Webyog, Nadhani has now turned his focus on CloudMagic, which was incubated in Webyog and spun off as a separate company in 2013.

Inc42 caught up with Rohit to know the backstory behind the acquisition, the synergies Idera is looking to explore with Webyog and his plans ahead with CloudMagic. Here is a brief excerpt from the interaction.

“We Are Profitable Without Any External Funding”

As shared by Nadhani, Webyog has been a profitable startup from day one, and was sailing smoothly in the database management space. With a workforce of 20 full-time employees, Rohit and his team were able to scale Webyog to over 2.5 Mn users across the globe.

Of these, 35,000 are enterprises and small businesses from 100+ countries. These include big names like Netflix, NASDAQ, Salesforce, Amazon, IBM, AT&T, eBay and General Electric, among other companies.

But as is often said, “There’s never a good time to exit a company, but a great offer.” The same happened with Webyog. “We were not looking at selling the company. Idera approached us with a great offer. Idera would also be a good home for Webyog as they are leaders in Microsoft SQL tools and expanding their product line to support popular open source databases was strategic to them,” added Rohit.

So what prompted Rohit to consider Idera as the new home for Webyog? Started in 2000 by private equity firms HGGC and TA Associates, Idera is a software company that provides Microsoft SQL database performance monitoring tools. With offices in Australia and the UK, apart from the US, the company’s brands span three divisions – database tools, developer tools, and test Management tools.

Idera’s solutions are currently used by more than 50,000 customers worldwide, including healthcare, financial services, retail, and technology companies.

So, Why Was Idera Bullish On Webyog?

Headquartered in Bengaluru, with a second office in Santa Clara, Webyog specialises in MySQL monitoring and management solutions. Catering to small businesses, enterprises and home users, the database management startup develops tools that, in turn, help optimise open source databases.

Currently, its two major products include SQLyog and Monyog. SQLyog provides query profiling tools, migration tools, synchronisation tools, backup, scheduling and reporting tools for MySQL. Additionally, it contains a number of other tools that enable database architects, developers and database administrators (DBAs) to improve efficiency and productivity of the system.

Monyog, on the other hand, is an agentless monitoring tool that offers real-time insights to optimise the performance of MySQL servers. Users can track SQL configuration changes, monitor locked and long-running queries, and view relational database service OS metrics such as CPU utilisation and RAM usage with the help of Amazon’s Cloudwatch API.

The product also advises users on how to tune databases, find problems and fix them before they can become serious issues or costly outages. Both the products, as per Nadhani, are built using C++ and Javascript.

At present, major players in the database management space include Oracle’s MySQL Enterprise Monitoring as well as open source monitoring tools like Nagios and Cacti. The Webyog acquisition, therefore, will help Idera gain an edge here.

Elaborating further, Heidi Farris, Vice President and General Manager of Database Tools for Idera said in a statement, “Open source relational database tools represent a key growth area for us. Webyog has a talented team, strong product portfolio and impressive client base that will enable us to compete across a wider group of platforms, while maintaining our position within the database lifecycle management segment.”

Rohit Nadhani On His Road ahead With CloudMagic

Now that Webyog has found a safe haven in Idera, Rohit Nadhani is now chasing the thrill of entrepreneurship with another venture: CloudMagic. With its forte lying in building productivity apps that are equipped with searching capabilities, cross-platform abilities and integrated user interface, CloudMagic launched its paid subscription-based email app, Newton, in September 2016. It is currently priced at $50 per year.

Under his leadership, Newton is now working on leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to build a virtual assistant on top of its email app. Like Webyog, CloudMagic has been entirely bootstrapped, with all product development, design and marketing activities done out of Bengaluru.

Sharing some stats on Newton, Nadhani proudly stated, “At present, Newton has over 40,000 subscribers and will become cash positive in 2019. Before the Webyog Acquisition, I spent 20% time in Webyog and 80% at Newton. Going forward, I will spend 100% of my time in Newton.”

Editor’s Note

As per available estimates, the global database market currently stands at $50 Bn. Along similar lines, the world’s enterprise data management sector is expected to reach $105.1 Bn by 2020, according to a report by MarketsandMarkets Research.

As more small businesses are foraying into the online realm, efficient database management is becoming more of a necessity. Banking on this opportunity, startups like Webyog are developing user-friendly tools that not only allow customers to receive real-time insights into the process of database optimisation but also help them enhance productivity in the long-run.

The acquisition of Webyog will, therefore, enable Idera to build more advanced solutions that support one of the most common open source databases in use: MySQL.

While that meant a close of one chapter in his entrepreneurial journey, Rohit Nadhani is now rushing to drive his other successful venture, CloudMagic, to profitability by 2019. How his latest endeavour turns out will be worth watching.

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