Druva is a SaaS data-protection and resilience platform that provides cloud-native backup, disaster recovery, archival, and ransomware-recovery services for endpoints, data centres, and cloud workloads.
Founded in 2008 by Jaspreet Singh, Milind Borate, and Ramani Kothandaraman in Pune (later relocating its operating centre to Bangalore and Sunnyvale), Druva has built one of the largest pure-SaaS backup platforms, protecting more than 7,500 customers and over 500 petabytes of data globally.
The company has raised more than US$475 million across rounds led by Viking Global Investors, Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec, Riverwood Capital, Sequoia, NEA, and Tenaya Capital, reaching a US$2 billion valuation in 2021.
Druva's platform integrates with AWS, Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, Salesforce, Microsoft Azure, and on-premise systems, and competes with Veeam, Rubrik, Cohesity, and Commvault in the modern backup category.
Structurally, Druva operates a dual-jurisdiction model: the ultimate parent Druva Inc. is a Delaware C-Corporation that consolidates the cap table and contracts with US enterprise customers; the wholly-owned Indian operating subsidiary, Druva Software Private Limited, is registered with the MCA in Karnataka and houses the bulk of engineering, product, and operations.
The US side is HQ'd in Sunnyvale, California; the Indian side runs out of Bangalore. This template is shared by Postman, Freshworks (which IPO'd on NASDAQ in 2021), and many other Indian-founded SaaS companies serving global enterprise markets.
Druva is a clean illustration of the Delaware-parent India-subsidiary template that has become the structural default for Indian-founded SaaS companies targeting global enterprise markets and a US public-market exit.
Why Delaware for the parent. When Druva raised institutional capital in 2009 and onwards, the choice of parent jurisdiction was effectively determined by the location of its target customers and investors. Druva's product is sold to Fortune 500 IT departments, large multinational enterprises, and US federal-adjacent agencies that prefer to contract with US-domiciled vendors.
Delaware C-Corp status removes friction in these contracting relationships - no Indian withholding-tax overhang on payments, no permanent-establishment concerns for international customers, and standard MSAs and DPAs under US law.
The investor community (Sequoia US, NEA, Riverwood Capital) is similarly Delaware-fluent: preferred-stock terms, anti-dilution mechanics, board governance, and conversion to common at IPO are all governed by Delaware General Corporation Law and Chancery Court precedent.
Why an India operating subsidiary. Druva's engineering and product teams sit predominantly in Bangalore. The Indian wholly-owned subsidiary Druva Software Private Limited employs Indian staff, books Indian salary and payroll-tax obligations, and operates under the Companies Act 2013 with all required filings (board meetings, AGM, financial statements, statutory audit, ROC filings).
The Delaware parent capitalises the Indian sub via the automatic FDI route - foreign equity into Indian IT-services entities is freely permitted - and the Indian sub returns value to the parent through a transfer-pricing-compliant intercompany services agreement, typically priced as a cost-plus markup under OECD guidelines and Section 92 of the Income Tax Act.
ESOPs across two jurisdictions. Indian Druva employees typically hold options on the Delaware parent's common stock. The Indian Income Tax Act treats the perquisite arising on exercise as salary income, taxed at the employee's slab rate; the subsequent sale is taxed under Indian capital-gains rules with foreign-tax credits available under the India-US double-tax treaty.
Indian payroll handles the perquisite TDS at exercise via the Indian sub even though the equity is issued by the Delaware parent.
Druva operates a dual-headquarters model: the Delaware-parent corporate HQ is in Sunnyvale, California, and the Indian operating subsidiary HQ is in Bangalore, where the bulk of engineering and product staff are based. The legal parent entity is Druva Inc., a Delaware C-Corporation.
The dual structure separates investor and customer-facing legal exposure (handled by the Delaware parent) from operational presence in India (handled by Druva Software Pvt Ltd, registered with the MCA in Karnataka). The template is standard for Indian-founded SaaS companies targeting global enterprise customers and a US listing.
No public plans have been announced. The Delaware parent remains appropriate if a US listing is the target exit. The 2024 Union Budget cross-border merger tax clarifications make a reverse-flip cheaper than it was for PhonePe in 2022, but the structural choice depends on Druva's eventual exit strategy.
Indian Druva employees are employed by Druva Software Private Limited, which handles Indian payroll, EPFO contributions, professional tax, and TDS withholding. Stock options are typically issued on the Delaware parent's common stock, with perquisite tax handled by the Indian payroll at exercise.
