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FileCloud CEO Ray Downes. Image: Don MacMonagle
Ray Downes championed his home county when he was at the helm of Kemp. Now, he’s leading another US tech company and bringing it to Limerick. Irishman Ray Downes is the CEO of FileCloud, an Austin-based SaaS provider of enterprise file-sharing software. He has led the business since December 2021, when it secured $40m in a venture capital funding round. FileCloud is now making a move to Ireland . Earlier this month, it announced plans to set up its EMEA headquarters and a new R&D hub in Downes’ home county of Limerick. Before FileCloud, he was the CEO of Kemp Technologies , another US software player with a Limerick base. He oversaw its transformation from a niche load balancing product into a leader in the application experience market, before it was acquired last year for $258m . Earlier in his career, Downes held several leadership positions at FDI technology companies including Cabletron Systems and Enterasys Networks. In 2002, he co-founded Arrosys, a sales and marketing consultancy specialising in launching technology companies into various European markets, and served on its leadership team until 2010. Educated in his native Limerick, he and his wife have lived in New York for the last decade. ‘The biggest risk I’ve taken was leaving a well-paid position in a large company to co-found a business’
– RAY DOWNES
What does your role at FileCloud entail? As a CEO, I think of myself as a Jack of all trades. Of course, that also means that if you are a master of none – you have to build strong teams and leaders, and surround yourself with smart people like we have at FileCloud. The core part of my role involves planning and strategy with the management team stakeholders. I am passionate about leadership development – no matter what position you hold. I like to focus on removing complexity from processes to ultimately make FileCloud easier to work with. I have a quality assurance background and that has served me well over decades, as has my continuous improvement mindset. I believe that leaders should create opportunities for anyone to develop – from a raw intern to a senior leader – if they put in the work and rise to the challenge. What are the biggest challenges facing your sector and how are you tackling them? The enterprise file sync and sharing (EFSS) and content collaboration sectors have a long history and are now quite mature – as evidenced by the enormous number of vendors that participate in that space. You’d expect that the majority of customer-facing problems would have been solved by now. Unfortunately, that is far from the reality. Most EFSS providers have created easy-to-use, cloud-based content solutions. In many cases, file sharing can be ‘turned on’ by the individual users, though often without any help or knowledge from IT, and might inherit some basic forms of control and security as provided by the platform providers. However, this method of file sharing can create a host of issues for enterprises, especially when it comes to the control and compliance of sensitive files. In addition, placing everything in the hands of one ‘cloud’ provider and virtualising everything can create opportunities for cyberattacks and data leak vectors. Add to this the ever-increasing set of regulations and compliance requirements, data residency and sovereignty concerns – and there is a huge gap between what the majority of cloud-based EFSS vendors can offer and what the enterprise market actually needs. This is where FileCloud comes in. What are the key sector opportunities you’re capitalising on? Since its founding in 2016, FileCloud has had a singular mission – to provide an optimised, ready-to-deploy platform for any on-premises and private cloud infrastructure, while enabling a high degree of security and control over sensitive content. As the demand for data governance and regulatory compliance is becoming increasingly strong – particularly within European enterprises, manufacturing, R&D and public sector communities – FileCloud is in a unique position to address and capitalise on this opportunity. What set you on the road to where you are now? In the early part of my career, I sought out roles where there was lots of growth potential. Not necessarily the best-paid jobs, but those companies that were looking to scale up rapidly. As they did, I got opportunities to work across many parts of the supply chain right out to the customer-facing side of business, which I then applied to new work situations. What’s the biggest risk you’ve ever taken? Without question, it was leaving a well-paid position in a large company to co-found a business with no salary until the company could turn a profit. There was very real pressure and little margin for error. Entrepreneurship is not for the faint of heart. The learning was worth it once I figured out how to deal with the stresses of being a business owner, employer, employee and main source of funding all rolled into one. What one work skill do you wish you had? I have had the opportunity to work and reside in a lot of countries over my 30-year career, and I always regret that I don’t have local language skills. If I had to pick two new languages now it would be German and Czech. How do you get the best out of your team? I want all my employees to be excited about the work we’re doing. I do that by setting out the business goals for a year or multiyear goals – crafted with input from key stakeholders. Then I make sure everyone understands the goals and how they align with their specific roles. I’m never afraid to repeat my key messages and ensure that leaders at all levels break that message down into what it means for them and their team members. This helps everyone understand they are part of something bigger than themselves, which leads to an engaged team. Have you noticed a diversity problem in your sector? There is a lot of good work being done on both sides of the Atlantic to encourage more diversity in the STEM sector. That needs to start much earlier in education with fun technology and engineering events that also teach about the excellent career prospects in tech. At FileCloud, our engineering team alone is spread across 17 different countries and counting. What’s the best piece of career advice you have ever received? “Lead with outcomes, not features.” This excellent advice was given to me a decade ago, and I still have it written up in my office at home! What books have you read that you would recommend? The Cold Start Problem by Andrew Chen – a top-tier VC at Andreessen Horowitz – focuses on how to scale product companies through network effect. It looks at why some take off and others don’t. An excellent read for product people. What are the essential tools and resources that get you through the working week? I’ve always been a journal person. I take lots of meeting notes but found a laptop to be distracting, so I now use the ReMarkable 2 handwriting tablet. It’s given me the ability to handwrite notes that are fully searchable and accessible on any of my devices; I love it! 10 things you need to know direct to your inbox every weekday. Sign up for the  Daily Brief , Silicon Republic’s digest of essential sci-tech news.

From Limerick to US tech leader: ‘I sought out roles with growth potential’

FileCloud establishes EMEA base in Limerick
FileCloud, a software and SaaS provider of enterprise file sharing and content collaboration platform, has selected Limerick for its its EMEA HQ and R&D Centre. The company said it plans to recruit up to 50 people at the Munster base over the next three years. Founded in Austin, Texas, FileCloud has operations in the US, Brazil, Dubai, India, and the Philippines, serving the enterprise content market for hyper-secure file and document sharing, collaboration, and data governance. The company has over 3,000 enterprise customers and over 1 million users around the world. In December 2021, FileCloud raised $30m in a  Series A funding round led by Savant Growth Fund LP, with participation from Kennet Partners. In addition, the company agreed a $10m growth capital facility with Avidbank. In tandem with the funding, FileCloud hired Ray Downes as CEO. Downes, who hails from Limerick, previously led Kemp Technologies, a former portfolio company managed by Savant Growth. Kemp Technologies was acquired in November 2021 for $258m by Progress Software. Kemp co-founder Peter Melerud was also recruited from Kemp for the role of FileCloud’s chief revenue officer. Ray Downes said the company is delighted to choose Limerick as the location for its European HQ. “I started my own career in the locality, and I have had great experience with operating prior companies from the MidWest," said Downes. "We see first-hand that there is an excellent ecosystem to fast-track growth plans with the support of the local business community and our IDA partners. We get access to the region's highly skilled technology focused talent and competitive cost base.”
Downes added that the new roles will be across the areas of Development, Operations & Support; Research & Development; Sales & Marketing and General Administrative Support. To learn more about the career opportunities at FileCloud, visit the FileCloud careers page . Madhan Kanagavel, founder, president and CTO of FileCloud, commented: “I am incredibly proud of our success bootstrapping the business to where it is today, and I can’t wait to begin this next phase of our journey." Eric Filipek, managing partner and co-founder of Savant Growth, and now a FileCloud director, stated: “Our market research showed the content collaboration and secure file sharing space is evolving at an accelerating pace and has been in need of an innovative entrant like FileCloud to address the specific demands by enterprises around security, compliance and workflow automation. “From the very first engagement with Madhan Kanagavel and his founding partners, we saw firsthand their passion and focus on solving complex customer challenges that resulted in FileCloud maturing into a unique, highly capable CCP platform.”
Photo: Ray Downes (second from left) with minister Niall Collins (second from right) and others. (Pic: Don MacMonagle)
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FileCloud establishes EMEA base in Limerick

John Kennedy
New to Limerick, FileCloud serves 3,000 enterprises and more than 1m users in 90 countries. Leading software and SaaS business FileCloud is to create 50 new jobs at its new EMEA HQ and R&D centre over the next two and half years. Founded in Austin, Texas, FileCloud has operations in the USA, Brazil, Dubai, India, and the Philippines, serving the enterprise content market for hyper-secure file and document sharing, collaboration, and data governance. “I started my own career in the locality, and I have had great experience with operating prior companies from Ireland’s Midwest”
FileCloud’s next-gen solution is supported by industry leading compliance, data governance, data leak protection, data retention and digital rights management capabilities. Workflow automation and granular control of content sharing across most enterprise platforms is fully integrated into the FileCloud software stack. The platform offers powerful file sharing, sync, and mobile access capabilities on public, private, and hybrid clouds. Excellent ecosystem
The company currently serves 3000+ enterprise customers with well over a million users in over 90 countries, including Global 1000 enterprises, educational institutions, government organizations, and managed service providers. “We are delighted to choose Limerick as the location for our European HQ. I started my own career in the locality, and I have had great experience with operating prior companies from Ireland’s Midwest,” said CEO Ray Downes. “We see first-hand that there is an excellent ecosystem to fast-track growth plans with the support of the local business community and our IDA partners. We get access to the region’s highly skilled technology focused talent and competitive cost base.”
The new roles will be across the areas of Development, Operations & Support; Research & Development; Sales & Marketing and General Administrative Support. To learn more about the career opportunities at FileCloud, visit the FileCloud careers page. Downes said the expansion of its European presence demonstrates FileCloud’s commitment to Europe, the Middle East and Africa, where organizations and governments are growing more hesitant to store their content in the public cloud and are expressing interest in a self-hosted and compliant Enterprise File Sharing and Content Collaboration platform. The establishment of its European entity also enables the Austin based company to further strengthen and scale its global business, expand its European partner base, and continue its impressive growth path. This project is supported by the Irish Government through IDA Ireland. Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise Trade & Employment Leo Varadkar TD said: “This is great news for Limerick City and I’m sure FileCloud will be very happy here. These 50 new jobs are a real boost and it’s a testament to the talent pool we have in the Midwest that FileCloud has chosen Limerick as a base for its EMEA HQ and R&D Centre. The very best of luck to the team.”
The CEO of IDA Ireland Martin Shanahan added: “FileCloud’s decision to establish its EMEA HQ and R&D Centre in Limerick is terrific news. The addition of these 50 technical and commercial roles to Limerick City will have a positive impact on the Mid-West region, creating opportunities for employment, third level collaboration, and R&D. FileCloud is also a welcome addition to Ireland’s growing emerging business cluster. I wish FileCloud every success with this venture.”

FileCloud brings 50 new jobs to Limerick

Enterprise file sharing and content collaboration software platform (CCP) developer FileCloud has chosen to establish its EMEA HQ and R&D centre in Limerick, creating 50 roles over the next two and a half years. This project is supported by the government through IDA Ireland. The new roles will be across the areas of software development, [&hellip
The post FileCloud chooses Limerick for EMEA HQ, R&D centre appeared first on TechCentral.ie.

FileCloud chooses Limerick for EMEA HQ, R&D centre

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Ray Downes, CEO, FileCloud, said he had a personal connection to Limerick, having started his career in the area. Texas-headquartered software development company FileCloud has selected Co Limerick as a base for its new R&D centre in a move that will create 50 new jobs . Limerick will also be the location for the company’s EMEA headquarters. FileCloud is a secure content collaboration platform that provides compliance, data governance, data leak protection, data retention and digital rights management services. It currently serves more than 3,000 enterprise customers and more than one million users worldwide. Its clients include enterprises, educational institutions, government organisations and managed service providers. FileCloud’s move to Limerick and the expansion of its EMEA presence there demonstrates its commitment to the region. Limerick will be the base from which the US company will implement its EMEA growth plan. The new roles in Limerick will be spread across a number of different sectors, including development, operations and support; R&D; sales and marketing and general administrative support. The Limerick centre will target organisations that want to store their content in a self-hosted enterprise file sharing and content collaboration platform, as opposed to a public cloud. Hiring Now

US software company FileCloud to create 50 new jobs in Limerick

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