Assertion Supported AI assessment confidence: 90% certainty 4/5 debate potential 1/5

VMware's Nicira business grew from $20M to $600M ARR during Casado's tenure

Martin Casado · Fireside Chat: Martin Casado, General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz (FirstMark's Data Driven NYC) · Mar 19, 2019 · at 2:11

Martin Casado, General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz, details revenue growth metrics for VMware's networking and security business after acquiring Nicira.

0:00 / 0:14exact quote · 14.4s

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“So when I, so when we joined, the revenues were under twenty million. When I left, it was six hundred million annual run rate. And I think last year it's public now that it clocked in 1.3 billion. So that was the, like the total bookings of last year was 1.3 billion.”

quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →

The claim, plainly

When Nicira was acquired by VMware, its revenue was under $20 million, growing to a $600 million annual run rate when Martin Casado left and $1.3 billion in annual bookings by 2018.

a quote alone can be ambiguous, so this restates it with the references and context of the conversation around it resolved. AI-written; the tape below the player is the source.

Assessment

All three legs of the claim made by then-VMware executive Martin Casado are accurate. First, Nicira had minimal commercial revenue prior to its August 2012 acquisition (having just launched production systems), and its revenue was immaterial enough that VMware's SEC filings did not break it out separately, confirming it was under $20 million. Second, on VMware's Q4 2015 earnings call in January 2016—just prior to Casado's departure in early 2016—executives confirmed NSX was at an annualized bookings run rate exceeding $600 million. Third, on VMware's Q4 FY2019 earnings call in February 2019, CEO Pat Gelsinger confirmed NSX full-year bookings for FY2019 (covering calendar 2018) reached approximately $1.3 billion.

VMware Q4 2015 earnings call (Jan 26, 2016) confirmed NSX software-defined networking reached an annualized bookings run rate of over $600 million.
VMware Q4 FY2019 earnings call (Feb 28, 2019) confirmed NSX total bookings reached approximately $1.3 billion for the fiscal year ending early 2019.
VMware FY2012 Form 10-K confirmed Nicira's pre-acquisition results were immaterial to VMware's consolidated statements prior to acquisition in August 2012.

Checked against

[1] siliconangle.com [2] forbes.com [3] communicationstoday.co.in [4] businessinsider.com [5] sec.gov [6] sec.gov [7] zdnet.com [8] businessinsider.com

VMware NSX "1.3 billion" OR "1.3B" 2018 OR 2019 "NSX" "1.3 billion" OR "$1.3 billion" OR "$1.3B" OR "1.3B" VMware Martin Casado VMware departure date 600 million NSX VMware NSX bookings 1.3 billion 2018 earnings call SEC filing "Nicira" "revenue was" OR "had revenue of" VMware OR SEC OR filing "Nicira" revenue "20 million" OR "10 million" OR "million" VMware acquisition SEC VMware Nicira acquisition revenue under 20 million SEC filing transcript press release "Nicira" revenue "VMware" "SEC" OR "earnings call" OR "transcript" VMware NSX annual run rate 600 million 2016 earnings call transcript

assessed as of 2026-07-31

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Mentioned

Martin Casado Nicira VMware

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VMware's Nicira business grew from $20M to $600M ARR during Casado's tenure

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