Microsoft has made an undisclosed equity investment in Veeam Software as part of an expanded partnership to build artificial intelligence products, the cloud data company said on Tuesday.

Veeam's software is designed to help customers quickly recover their data after cybersecurity incidents, ransomware attacks or accidental data loss.

Its core product supports immutable backups to prevent ransomware from modifying or deleting data, ensuring that clean copies remain available for recovery even if hackers encrypt files.

Microsoft had invested in cybersecurity firm Rubrik in 2021, which also offers data backup and recovery solutions.

Veeam said it would focus on research and development investments and design collaboration, among others, with the support of Microsoft. It will also integrate Microsoft's AI services into its products.

U.S. private equity firm Insight Partners, which is the largest shareholder in Veeam, sold a $2 billion stake in the company in a secondary sale valuing the firm at $15 billion, it said in December last year.

Veeam was acquired by Insight Partners for about $5 billion in 2020.

Founded in 2006, Veeam has more than 550,000 customers globally including corporations such as Deloitte and Canon, according to its website.

[Reuters]