Fusion-io, a provider of data storage products and systems, has closed USD47.5m in Series B funding from a group of investors led by venture capital firm Lightspeed Venture Partners.
Fusion-io, a provider of data storage products and systems, has closed USD47.5m in Series B funding from a group of investors led by venture capital firm Lightspeed Venture Partners.
The company also announced that David Bradford, a technology industry veteran, has been named chief executive of Fusion-io.
Fusion-io offers the first true fusion of high-performance I/O and network storage, replacing racks of storage disks with a single card that fits in the palm of your hand.
In addition to Lightspeed Venture, Series A investors, including New Enterprise Associates, Dell Ventures and Sumitomo Ventures, have returned for the Series B round.
‘In just over a year, this company has demonstrated through its ground-breaking product offerings that it has the potential to change the way enterprise organizations think about storage,’ says Scott Sandell, general partner at New Enterprise Associates. ‘This round of funding will enable Fusion-io to build on that momentum and help the company keep pace with the growth demands of the marketplace, while permitting them to continue leading the evolution of network storage.’
Fusion-io will use the Series B funding to significantly increase production capabilities to meet the growing demand for Fusion-io’s current offerings. It will also use the investment to develop the next generation of Fusion-io technologies that will build on its server-attached storage products to supply server-deployed, network-attached solid-state storage. The first of these products, releasing this summer, is the ioSAN, a PCI Express-based product that extends the power of Fusion-io’s technology across the network.
‘World-class funding sources recognize the potential in Fusion-io’s vision for the future of storage,’ says Bradford. ‘Especially given the current world economy, their faith in our vision is humbling. Our intent is to exceed their expectations by becoming the leader for a whole new generation of enterprise storage technology.’
Bradford brings 30 years of experience to Fusion-io, including 15 years at the networking software giant Novell. As a senior Novell executive, he helped lead the company from start-up status through a series of acquisitions, public offerings and global business development activities to its position as a multi-billion dollar corporation.
