SSD Maker OCZ Raises $15 Million

OCZ Technology Group, Inc. has closed $15.45 million in funding in order to support its growing solid state drive (SSD) business.

Through the transaction, OCZ sold 5,151,662 shares of its common stock (approximately $15.45 million in the aggregate) to several institutional investors. The transaction includes warrants to purchase an aggregate of an additional 2,575,831 shares of common stock. The warrants are immediately exercisable, have a term of five years and contain certain other features. Merriman Curhan Ford acted as the exclusive placement agent for the transaction.

"Over the course of the last few years, we have met the demand for a better storage option head-on, by delivering high performance solid state disk drives to a wide array of customer’s globally", said Ryan Petersen, President and Chief Executive Officer of OCZ Technology Group. "This round of funding will enable OCZ to continue its growth in SSDs and accelerate the development of next-generation solutions."

Mr. Petersen further commented: "We believe that OCZ is well-positioned to advance the deployment of flash-based storage solutions. OCZ will continue to design, develop and implement SSD technology with its current base of over 300 customers while opening up new markets through targeting enterprise and OEM customers seeking to adopt flash media as primary storage."

Mr. Petersen concluded: "We very much appreciate the efforts of Merriman who recognized the potential in our markets, understood the intrinsic value in OCZ and worked closely with us to bring this transaction to a successful conclusion."