Dean Drako, founder and CEO of Eagle Eye Networks

Since launching in 2012, Eagle Eye Networks has become the largest cloud-based video surveillance provider in North America.

It’s also the largest cloud-based video surveillance provider in Asia.

And now, it’s set its sights on becoming the largest cloud-based video surveillance provider in Europe.

On Thursday, Eagle Eye Networks announced the acquisition of Panasonic Cloud Management Service Europe B.V., based in Amsterdam, for an undisclosed price. The acquisition gives Eagle Eye a strong foothold in the European market. It also gives them the Panasonic Cameramanager and Panasonic Nubo. The company is the largest cloud-based video surveillance provider in Europe.

Serial Entrepreneur Dean Drako, founder and CEO of Eagle Eye Networks, doesn’t like to disclose much about his company’s financial dealings. He has raised an undisclosed amount of venture capital from big name backers like Michael Dell. It is a private company and gets the privilege of not disclosing financial details, Drako said.

With his latest venture, Drako is also disrupting the traditional market of video surveillance which primarily relies on digital video recorders to store security video on the premise of a store, restaurant or other establishment. With the Eagle Eye Networks technology, all the video is stored in the cloud. And that cloud is made up of eight strategically placed global data centers. The acquisition of Panasonic gives the company two more data centers in Europe.

Now Eagle Eye Networks has three data centers in Europe, three data centers in North America and two data centers in Asia.

Eagle Eye Networks, which is based at 4611 Bee Cave Road in Austin, has 100 employees worldwide. It has seen 150 percent to 200 percent growth in its market in the last year or so, Drako said.

Eagle Eye’s customers are small businesses like convenience stores, salons or a franchise operator and big corporations like Indeed.com, Uber and Facebook. It also sells a lot to schools and government agencies.

Its main competitor is what Drako characterizes as traditional video security providers that put computers in closets to capture and store video.
“We’re the Gmail version or Office 365 or Saleforce.com version of video surveillance systems,” he said.

Most of the market is still doing it the traditional way, Drako said. It’s a “slow moving market,” he said.

Eagle Eye Networks is the “first and largest provider of cloud surveillance,” he said. They can provide security video services better, faster and cheaper, he said.

One of the interesting things about the cloud-based system that is unique – criminals break in to rob a store and they steal the DVR on the way out or destroy it to get rid of the video, Drako said. With Eagle Eye’s cloud-based they can’t do that, he said.