CrowdStrike is seeing huge growth through managed security service providers (MSSPs) as it increasingly targets small and medium-sized businesses with its cloud-native cybersecurity platform.
CEO George Kurtz told investors that annual recurring revenue generated through MSSPs more than doubled in the company’s fiscal 2023, which ended January 31, and CrowdStrike now generates 83 per cent of its overall revenue through channel partners.
“Strategically expanding and investing in our partner ecosystem, with a goal of further expanding our reach within the enterprise — as well as down-market in the SMB — is one of our top initiatives in FY24,” he said.
Kurtz made the comments as CrowdStrike reported results for the fourth quarter of its fiscal 2023, which beat Wall Street analyst estimates on both revenue and profits.
The vendor’s stock price rose seven per cent in after-hours trading Tuesday, to $133.75 a share.
CrowdStrike is aiming to reach more SMBs in part through its Falcon Go platform, an affordably priced version of its Falcon unified security platform that’s landed more than 1,000 net new customers for the company in just over two quarters, Kurtz said.
“We believe this early success reaching the ‘S’ in the SMB demonstrates the immense demand for CrowdStrike’s best-in-class endpoint protection, even among the smallest and [most] cost-conscious organisations,” he said.
In the fourth quarter CrowdStrike’s revenue climbed 48 per cent, year on year, to $637.4 million, the company reported. That slightly surpassed analyst expectations for the quarter.
ARR grew by 48 per cent from a year earlier for CrowdStrike, reaching $2.56 billion as of the end of January, including $221.7 million in net new ARR during the quarter.
“CrowdStrike is executing exceptionally well in a challenging macro environment. The “dual mandate of high efficacy and low total cost of ownership” that many customers now have for security “plays to CrowdStrike’s strength as a leading consolidator,” he said.
On earnings, the company reported non-GAAP net income of 47 cents per diluted share for its fiscal Q4, above the 43 cents per diluted share that had been expected by analysts.
