SANTA CLARA, CA, Embrane, creators of the first distributed software platform for powering on-demand elastic network services, today announced that it has received $18 million in Series-B financing, led by New Enterprise Associates (NEA). Lightspeed Venture Partners and North Bridge Ventures also participated in the round, following their initial lead investments in the company's $9 million Series-A funding.

Embrane, which is currently in Beta and will launch later this year, will use the funding to continue to innovate in the area of virtual network services as well as to ramp up sales and marketing.

"NEA's investment in Embrane further validates our vision that the network is in need of an infusion of agility in order for cloud service providers and enterprises to completely reap the benefits of the cloud," said Dante Malagrinò, co-founder and CEO of Embrane. "This commitment from our top-tier investors will help accelerate the execution of our go-to-market strategy and increase visibility and demand for our virtual network services platform."

Pete Sonsini, partner at NEA, will join the Embrane Board that also includes John Vrionis, managing director at Lightspeed, Paul Santinelli, partner at North Bridge, and independent Board member Bob Finocchio.

"While most of the attention around building cloud infrastructures has focused on virtualizing compute and storage, the network has been long overlooked," said Sonsini. "Until now, the network has been far too rigid, expensive and limited in its ability to deliver multi-tenancy options at scale - particularly when it comes to network services. Embrane has tackled this and will enable both cloud service providers and enterprises to procure, provision, grow, and shrink network services on-demand - enabling complete cloud adoption for the first time."

"Embrane's innovation in the area of virtual network services is a critical element for service providers and enterprises building dynamic data centers," added Vrionis. "Lightspeed is building a portfolio of customers focused on data center infrastructure and Embrane's distributed software platform is a unique approach to an issue no one has been able to address."

"Customers are turning to the cloud for two main reasons: increased agility and cost savings," commented Santinelli. "At North Bridge, we recognized early on that current offerings could not deliver this network agility for the cloud so we invested in Embrane to address this very issue. Initial reaction from customers is already confirming that Embrane is solving a significant networking problem."

About Embrane

Embrane's mission is to accelerate the adoption of cloud computing and IT-as-a-service by delivering the most dynamic platform for virtual network services. Based in Silicon Valley, Embrane delivers the first distributed software platform that powers high-performance, elastic, virtual network services on-demand.

About Lightspeed Venture Partners

Lightspeed Venture Partners is a leading global venture capital firm with over $2 billion of committed capital under management. Lightspeed's investment professionals and advisors are located in Silicon Valley, China, India and Israel. Over the past two decades, the Lightspeed team has backed more than 150 companies, many of which have become leaders in their respective markets including Blue Nile, Brocade, Calista, Ciena, DoubleClick, eHealth, Flixster, Galileo Technology, Growth Networks, Informatica, Kiva Software, Kosmix, LightLogic, LivingSocial, Maker Communications, Metasolv, Phone.com, Playdom, Quantum Effect Devices, Riverbed, RockYou, Shoedazzle, Sirocco, TheFind, TutorVista, Virsa Systems, and Waveset. For more information, visit www.lightspeedvp.com.

About NEA

New Enterprise Associates, Inc. (NEA) is a leading venture capital firm focused on helping entrepreneurs build transformational businesses across multiple stages, sectors, and geographies. With approximately $11 billion in committed capital, NEA invests in information technology, healthcare, and energy technology companies at all stages in a company's lifecycle, from seed stage through IPO. The firm's long track-record of successful investing includes over 165 portfolio company IPOs and more than 265 acquisitions. In the U.S., NEA has two offices in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area and one in Menlo Park, CA. In addition, New Enterprise Associates (India) Pvt. Ltd. has offices in Bangalore and Mumbai, India and New Enterprise Associates (Beijing) Ltd. has offices in Beijing and Shanghai, China. For additional information, visit www.nea.com.

About North Bridge Venture Partners

Established in 1994 and based in Waltham, Massachusetts, and San Mateo, California, North Bridge is an early-stage venture capital firm providing seed-to-growth financing and company-building expertise. Its investment sectors include communications, healthcare technologies, materials, digital media and software. Together with North Bridge Growth Equity, its mid-market focused growth capital fund, North Bridge manages approximately $3 billion.