CloudByte Raises $4 Million in Series B …

CloudByte, Inc. has raised $4 million in its second round of funding, bringing the total funding to $6.1 million.

The series B funding round was led by Fidelity Growth Partners India, the private equity arm of Fidelity Worldwide Investment (Fidelity), with participation from existing investors Nexus Venture Partners and Kae Capital.

Funds from this new investment will be used for expanding global sales and marketing in addition to product development. Headcount additions will help the company support the growing customer demand and increase the market awareness of its software-defined storage solution.

Raul Rai, MD with Fidelity Growth Partners India, will be joining the CloudByte board of directors.
 
"We are very pleased to be part of the ongoing CloudByte success story," said Raul Rai. "The company’s leading-edge ElastiStor storage technology, shipping since January, and its applicability for both cloud storage providers and enterprise private clouds helped us make this investment decision. As part of our diligence, we also observed that CloudByte has achieved greater traction than companies that have raised much larger rounds of funding. It is refreshing to see what CloudByte has accomplished in a short period of time and we are looking forward to the company’s continued success and expansion into new markets."
 
"As an early investor, it has been exciting to see the company’s growth and customer adoption. As a large storage user, Fidelity has a deep insight in this space and we are excited to have them join us as an investor in the company," said Sandeep Singhal, co-founder of Nexus Venture Partners. "The storage industry is experiencing a fundamental shift to a software-based model, giving both cloud service providers and enterprises the flexibility and scale they need without compromising performance and other high-end features. CloudByte’s patented storage QoS solution gives its customers the ability to deliver scalable on-demand performance from commodity storage components, both HDDs and SSDs, for a range of application needs."
 
"CloudByte has put together a world-class management team. We are delighted to participate in this round of funding along with Nexus and Fidelity," said Sasha Mirchandani, founder and MD of Kae Capital. "CloudByte has disrupted the traditional storage space by developing next-generation storage technology that makes it easier to afford and manage storage for thousands of applications."
 
CloudByte announced earlier this month the appointment of former SanDisk GM Greg Goelz  as CEO.

ElastiStor has been verified to work with technology platforms including VMware ESXi, XenServer, and Citrix CloudPlatform, and is now integrated with OpenStack block storage Cinder. The company continues to receive industry recognition and most recently was recognized for its innovation by TiEcon, Red Herring, and Network Products Guide.
 
"The support we have received from Fidelity, as well as our existing investors, is a testimony to our tremendous market opportunity and the success we are already having in this market," said Goelz. "While the all-flash discussion continues, our software approach allows organizations to optimize their infrastructure based on their requirements and select their preferred storage components; today, most customers are just beginning to deploy SSDs and economics is a key factor in driving their storage solutions. We enable our customers to start with the mix that is right for their business and continue to use CloudByte to manage their storage as their business grows and needs change."
 
The company also announced a free perpetual license of its full-featured storage software, ElastiStor, for up to 4TB of storage. The software can be downloaded (registration needed.)