Pune, CrowdStrike Inc., today announced the expansion of its operations in the Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ) region with the opening of a new Innovation and Development Center in Pune, India and the appointment of Jagdish Mahapatra as managing director Asia (India, South East Asia and North Asia).

Since the 2015 launch of its APJ operations in Sydney, Australia, CrowdStrike has experienced rapid, triple-digit growth adding new customers across the region. The company has expanded presence and growing team will support and accelerate the substantial market demand for the CrowdStrike Falcon® platform, threat intelligence, and response services.

CrowdStrike has appointed Jagdish Mahapatra as managing director Asia, to strengthen the company’s foothold in the region and rapidly drive new growth opportunities. Mr Mahapatra joins CrowdStrike from McAfee where he was responsible for the APAC channel, effectively building a strong partner and alliance ecosystem in the region. Prior to that, he was the managing director of McAfee India and SAARC. He also spent over 10 years with Cisco.

“The security market has changed and I’m excited to work with the company leading the charge and setting the new standard for endpoint protection. CrowdStrike’s incredible global growth demonstrates that the market is ready for a cloud-native approach to endpoint security that is far more effective and efficient in stopping breaches. India and SAARC are a strategic growth market for CrowdStrike and I’m looking forward to driving continued momentum in this region,” said Jagdish Mahapatra as managing director Asia at CrowdStrike.

CrowdStrike has chosen the city of Pune to leverage partnerships with local universities as part of a long-term collaboration to address the cybersecurity talent shortage in India. CrowdStrike’s Chief Product Officer, Amol Kulkarni is a College of Engineering Pune Graduate. “Today, I’m very proud to be here in Pune to launch our CrowdStrike Innovation and Development Center, and to announce that we are partnering with the College of Engineering, Pune and the Pune University Cyber Security department to offer cyber education opportunities, as well as internships,” said Amol Kulkarni, chief product officer.”