F5 topped this week’s winners with a deal to acquire CalypsoAI, aiming to plug real-time Artificial Intelligence security into its Application Delivery and Security Platform. The company said CalypsoAI brings protections against prompt injection and jailbreaking, along with guardrails to detect and prevent sensitive data leakage and policy violations. The mostly cash transaction is expected to close by the end of F5’s fiscal fourth quarter this month. It follows F5’s recent acquisitions of agentic-powered security startup Fletch in June and real-time network observability vendor MantisNet in August, underscoring a sustained push into Artificial Intelligence-era security.
Databricks impressed the market with a new 10-figure Series K funding round co-led by Andreessen Horowitz, Insight Partners, MGX, Thrive Capital, and WCM Investment Management. The company said the capital will accelerate its Artificial Intelligence strategy, including investment in its Agent Bricks tools for building production agents and its Lakebase operational database, both unveiled at the June Data + Artificial Intelligence Summit. Databricks added that the financing will support future Artificial Intelligence acquisitions, deepen Artificial Intelligence research, and fuel global expansion. The company also disclosed that it surpassed a multibillion-dollar annual revenue run rate in its second quarter with 50 percent year-over-year growth and positive free cash flow over the past 12 months.
Snowflake launched a revamped reseller program built around richer, consumption-oriented economics. New incentives include a 15 percent resale free credit discount for net-new customers and a 5 percent consumption rebate once a deal is signed and usage begins. The changes reflect partner feedback seeking larger up-front discounts and stronger post-sale incentives, said senior vice president of alliances and channels Chris Niederman. Snowflake has also expanded investments in its partner ecosystem, which has grown from 600 partners in 2022 to more than 12,000, adding the SPN Learn training platform, a new tiering structure, a service registration incentive, quarterly SPN Pulse webinars, and SPN Connect in-person events.
Solution provider Blue Mantis formally stepped into full-scale MSSP territory with its new Mantis Protect managed security service. The offering stands up a 24×7 managed Security Operations Center staffed by about 20 in-house security analysts and threat hunters, and layers in real-time managed threat detection and incident response powered by a modern SIEM, managed endpoint protection and email security, vulnerability management, dark web monitoring, and governance, risk and compliance as-a-service. The launch replaces Blue Mantis’ previous reliance on a third-party MDR provider and represents a significant investment in internal capabilities, according to CISO Jay Martin.
Rounding out the list, RingCentral acquired CommunityWFM, an Artificial Intelligence-powered workforce management provider founded in 2005. RingCentral plans to fold workforce management into its RingCX platform, giving partners and customers a single Artificial Intelligence platform for intelligent forecasting, scheduling, adherence, analytics and automation in contact center environments. The company said CommunityWFM’s Artificial Intelligence-driven algorithms complement RingCentral’s existing analytics to optimize operations and improve agent empowerment.
