Zynstra, a provider of hybrid cloud solutions for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), has today announced the completion of a 3.8 million Series A funding round, bringing the total amount raised to just over 6 million. The financing was led by Octopus Investments, and included early investors Richard Brennan, former EVP Global Marketing at Orange Group, Tom Vari, former CIO of Cable at Rogers Communications Inc. and Jon Craton, Zynstra's Chairman and former CEO of Cramer.

The company will use the funds to accelerate innovation and expansion of the channel.

Zynstra lifted the covers on their offering in July this year, two years after it began the development of a hybrid cloud solution designed to redress the balance between small and medium sized enterprises and larger companies when it comes to IT. For a monthly fee and with no up-front cost, Zynstra gives SMEs with up to 250 employees a comprehensive, fully managed IT solution that combines the reliability and security of on-premise IT with the economics and flexibility of the cloud. This hybrid approach to the cloud is already favoured by many large enterprises but to date has not been economically viable for smaller companies.

'We believe that small and medium sized businesses deserve an IT solution that is easy to deploy, easy to use, and easy to manage. We've built a product that is designed specifically for them, not just a scaled down version of a big enterprise solution,' said Zynstra co-founder and CEO Nick East. 'We will use the additional funding to build on the existing patent-pending technology that sits at the heart of the Zynstra solution. We will also be aggressively expanding our channel programme to reach SMEs. We are delighted to have such great investors behind us.'

Jon Craton, Zynstra's Chairman, added: 'Zynstra has rapidly gained momentum since our early deployments in October 2012, as evidenced by a growing base of fee-paying subscribers. Through our channel partners, we've secured some great customer wins and confidently expect accelerated uptake during the coming 12 months and beyond.'

Commenting on the investment, Frederic Lardieg, a member of the Ventures team at Octopus Investments, said: 'We're very pleased to announce our investment in Zynstra. We have been really impressed by the team. They are seasoned entrepreneurs and bring with them a wealth of experience, having successfully built and sold their previous company Cramer Systems. At Zynstra they are developing a really exciting product that provides an innovative and cost efficient IT solution to small businesses, and has the potential to be a game-changing technology in the hybrid cloud market. We are looking forward to partnering the team as they continue to develop the business.'

About Zynstra

Zynstra is a provider of hybrid cloud solutions that enable SMEs to benefit from the security and performance of local IT combined with the economics and ease of the cloud. Headquartered in Bath, UK, Zynstra has developed patent-pending technology that gives SMEs hassle-free, enterprise-level IT with built-in reliability they can afford.

About Octopus Investments

Founded in 2000, Octopus is one of the UK's fastest growing investment management companies. We currently manage GBP3 billion assets on behalf of 50,000 customers. We offer a straight-talking approach to investments, exceptional customer service and a range of products that do what they say they will.

The Ventures team at Octopus

The Ventures team at Octopus are straight talking human investors that back talented people rather than specific sectors. We focus on identifying fast growth businesses which can scale explosively to create, transform or dominate an industry. We can invest from GBP250,000 to GBP5 million and prefer to partner teams based in the UK.

The work of our Ventures team is supported by access to the Octopus Venture Partners, a network of approximately 100 outstanding business leaders, entrepreneurs and private investors providing an invaluable wealth of expertise and resource for our portfolio companies, as well as investing on a deal-by-deal basis alongside Octopus venture funds. This blend of knowledge and skill has allowed us to help many great companies across several sectors thrive in recent years, including: Zoopla; Graze.com; SwiftKey; and, Secret Escapes.

For more information visit www.octopusinvestments.com