SwiftStack, the leader in software-defined storage for the cloud, today announced that it closed $16 million in funding from both new and existing investors to rapidly scale its efforts to enable massive storage scalability for the enterprise simply and affordably. The Series B round was led with a substantial investment from OpenView Venture Partners as well as existing investors Mayfield Fund, Storm Ventures and UMC Capital. The new resources will be used to expand go-to-market and customer engagement efforts. With this $16 million investment, SwiftStack has now raised a total of $23.6 million.
As enterprises brace themselves for the exponential explosion of unstructured data volumes, they are demanding the flexibility and cost advantages that come from open source software and commodity hardware. The object storage market has grown considerably over the last couple years and is forecasted, according to Gartner, to grow at a CAGR of 20% from 2012 through 2016, reaching $456 million by 2016. SwiftStack's software-defined object storage platform, built on the OpenStack Swift object storage engine, and proven track record is positioned to take it on.
'There's been a sea change in the adoption of enterprise storage solutions, and object storage is a front-seat technology poised to be general purpose storage likely to supplant today's use of expensive SAN and NAS devices,' said Joe Arnold, CEO of SwiftStack. 'Our disruptive technology and engagement model will leapfrog traditional enterprise storage software vendors in the race to deliver the storage scalability customers want, the way they want to buy it. With this new infusion of resources we'll be able to significantly scale on our vision to give customers an affordable, scalable, manageable and simple storage solution.'
The leading investor, OpenView Venture Partners, specializes in scaling out B2B software companies and has exceptional expertise in enterprise go-to-market strategies. Daniel Demmer, Operating Partner at OpenView, will join the SwiftStack board. Demmer has an extensive background in high-growth enterprise software companies. Prior to joining OpenView, he was President and CFO of Endeca Technologies which was acquired by Oracle in 2011.
'The world of storage has been unhinged by the growth of unstructured data with enterprises clamoring for greater flexibility and affordability,' said Demmer of OpenView. 'SwiftStack occupies a unique place in the market with its powerful platform, expert team and dynamic customer engagement model. This new round of financing allows the team to continue ushering in a new era of reliable, cost effective, redundant and highly scalable storage solutions.'
Key Customers
SwiftStack is being put to use by the most well-respected global companies, including eBay, HP, Time Warner Cable and Pac-12 Networks.
About SwiftStack
SwiftStack is an industry leading software defined storage company. With OpenStack's object storage project Swift at its core, SwiftStack offers a flexible and powerful software platform that allows operators to deploy, integrate and scale on standard hardware. With SwiftStack, applications developers and operations teams can leverage the power of an object storage infrastructure with the control, security and total cost of ownership their business demands. Launched in 2011, the company boasts support for large enterprise F500 customers. SwiftStack is headquartered in San Francisco, with offices globally, and is backed by top-tier investors, including Mayfield Fund and Storm Ventures. Connect with us on Twitter and LinkedIn, or please visit www.swiftstack.com.
About OpenView
OpenView Venture Partners (www.openviewpartners.com) is an expansion-stage venture capital firm based in Boston that is invests exclusively in B2B software companies. In addition to its investment team, OpenView also has a dedicated team of 15 consultants who work with its portfolio companies to help the teams scale faster and more efficiently than competitors (www.openviewlabs.com). Founded in 2006, the firm invests globally and has nearly $700 million in total capital under management.