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Dean Drako
Photo: Mukis, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons14

Dean Drako

American businessman and entrepreneur

Dean Drako is an American businessman. Drako was founder, president and CEO of Barracuda Networks from 2003 to July 2012.2

From Wikipedia’s article on Dean Drako (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Born 2000.1

About

He is owner and CEO of Brivo, and co-founder and CEO of IC Manage and Drako Motors. He is also owner and chairman of Cobalt AI.

Drako grew up in Detroit, Michigan, founding his first company in high school; his company T-net's bulletin board system software package was used to share messages via modems. He sold T-net and used the profits to fund his college education at University of Michigan, where he graduated with a BS in electrical engineering. He later moved to California to attend UC Berkeley, earning an MS in electrical engineering.

As of 2020, Drako is a holder of 53 patents, including patents on video streaming, video storage, video analytics, digital image processing, network security & protocols, digital circuits, biochemical assays, and electric automobiles.

From Wikipedia’s article on Dean Drako, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.2

Companies

Early life and education

  • Date not recordedUniversity of Michigan3

Career

Occupation: entrepreneur, businessperson.7

DAI and IC Manage

Drako has founded two companies in the semiconductor industry. In 1992, Drako founded Design Acceleration Inc, selling it to Cadence Design Systems in 1999. In 2003, he and Shiv Sikand founded IC Manage a design & IP management company. Drako continues as IC Manage's President and CEO.

Barracuda Networks

Also in 2003, Drako founded Barracuda Networks and introduced their email spam and virus appliance product line. Other Barracuda product lines launched during Drako's tenure were: web filters, load balancers, email archiving, and digital PBXs.

Drako executed six acquisitions by Barracuda Networks: In 2007, NetContinuum, an application controller company; in 2008, BitLeap, a provider of cloud-based backup services, and 3SP, an SSL and VPN company; in 2009, Yosemite Technologies, for incremental backup of applications; a controlling interest in phion AG, an Austria-based public enterprise-class firewalls company, and Purewire Inc, a software as a service (SaaS) cloud-based web filtering and security company. Drako contributed to or supported 16 different open source projects while running Barracuda including Valgrind, Apache, and the Free Software Foundation.

Barracuda was ranked #2 by Glassdoor in 2011, with Drako receiving an 88% approval rating. Drako resigned from Barracuda Networks in July 2012 to found Eagle Eye Networks, while continuing on Barracuda's board of directors until 2014. At the time of Drako’s resignation, Barracuda stated it was profitable, generating hundreds of millions in annual revenue, close to 30% year-over-year growth since inception, and had surpassed 150,000 customers.

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Eagle Eye Networks

Drako left Barracuda Networks in July 2012 to found Eagle Eye Networks, a cloud-based video security company, as CEO. He officially launched Eagle Eye Networks in 2014, stating that his desire to found the company was driven by his frustration when trying to set up a video security system for a remote office while CEO of Barracuda; he wanted to make video surveillance more accessible and far easier to use by leveraging the cloud. Drako has been credited with establishing the concept of ‘true cloud’ in the physical security industry, emphasizing the differences between applications designed specifically for the cloud and legacy-design applications being run on a cloud-hosted virtual server.

Drako initially financed Eagle Eye Networks himself, later raising multiple rounds: an undisclosed amount from Michael Dell in 2014, a $40M series E in 2020, and a $100 million Series F in 2023, with Drako continuing be the majority owner. Drako has stated that more recent funding was to accelerate the company's AI execution. Eagle Eye Networks ranked four times on the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 list of fastest growing technology companies in North America (2019, 2020, 2021, and 2023).

In December 2025, Drako merged Eagle Eye Networks with Brivo, becoming CEO of Brivo.

Brivo

In 2015, Drako acquired cloud access control system provider Brivo for $50M, as Brivo's Chairman. and operating it as separate entity from Eagle Eye Networks for more than 10 years until the two companies merged in December 2025, with Drako taking on the CEO role for Brivo following the merger.

In November 2022, Brivo closed long-term senior secured credit facility of $75 million with Runway Growth Capital. In 2023, Brivo raised $92M in financing, with Drako continuing to hold a majority share of the company.

Cobalt AI acquisition

In June 2024, Drako acquired Cobalt AI, a provider of enterprise AI alarm filtering, remote monitoring and security robot solutions, for an undisclosed sum, where he also is chairman.

Drako Motors

Drako is co-founder and CEO of Drako Motors, an automotive software platform provider, which on August 6, 2015 announced its first product, the Drako DriveOS, a single VCU (vehicle control unit) operating system which controls all four wheels independently. In June 2019, Drako Motors pre-announced their Drako GTE electric quad-motor supercar, claiming speeds of up to 206 MPH and 1200 horsepower. In August 2019, Drako Motors formally launched the all-electric production Drako GTE. In November 2022, Drako Motors launched the Drako Dragon all-electric luxury SUV, with 2,000 HP and 200+ mph maximum speed, quad motor powertrain, and two gullwing doors.

From Wikipedia’s article on Dean Drako (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Personal life

  • Born2000, United States8
  • CitizenshipUnited States9

Philanthropy

PermRecord and Permanent Legacy Foundation

In 2015, Drako created the PermRecord Foundation with the stated purpose "to ensure the preservation of materials placed in its trust." By 2019 this mission had evolved "to preserve and provide perpetual access to the digital legacy of all people for the historical and educational benefit of future generations." As of 2023, there were 7 board members, and Drako had the exclusive right to set the number of authorized directors, elect, and remove directors. The foundation accepts donations and is supported by contributions; its website displays its legal name and charity registration.

From Wikipedia’s article on Dean Drako (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Sources

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