Microsoft invests in Rubrik, partners to protect customers from ransomware

Microsoft Corp. is investing in software startup Rubrik Inc. and the two companies will combine on products that will help customers hit by ransomware recover their critical data without paying hackers.

The companies declined to specify the size of the investment. The funding totaled in the low tens of millions and valued Rubrik at about $4 billion, according to a person familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified discussing private terms. Rubrik was started with the idea of modernizing the market for data-backup software, taking on a previous generation of vendors like EMC, now part of Dell Technologies Inc., and Veritas, now owned by the Carlyle Group.