Gridstore Raised $19 Million, Total Now at $45 Million

Gridstore, Inc. has closed its growth capital funding round and elected both a new COB and a new member to the board of directors.

The company raised $19 million in an oversubscribed round that included participation from its current investors, Acero Capital, GGV Capital, and ONSET Ventures. Leading the new round is Atlantic Bridge Capital, a global growth equity technology fund with over $450 million of assets under management.

Gridstore will use this infusion of capital to expand its international geographic coverage, partner recruitment programs, domestic and international sales teams as well as increasing engineering and product development initiatives.

Joining the board as its new chair is Nariman Teymourian, most recently SVP and GM of the converged systems division, HPE, and prior to that CEO of Gale Technologies.

Kevin Dillon, general partner of Atlantic Bridge Capital will also take a seat on the board of directors.

Additionally, the company has added several new executives to help drive the company’s expansion in 2016.
 
“We are very pleased to welcome Nariman Teymourian as our new COB as he brings not only tremendous insight and industry experience, but a track record of success with start-ups,” said Rami Elkhatib, general partner, Acero Capital. “Additionally, Kevin Dillon’s expertise and business acumen will add a new dimension to an already strong Board as we lay out plans for the future. Together their deep experience will prove invaluable as we take the company to its next level.”
 
“This is a very exciting time in the market and I am very pleased to be joining such a dynamic company,” said Kevin Dillon, general partner, Atlantic Bridge Capital. “Gridstore’s solid growth positions them well in the hyperconverged market and I look forward to helping the company drive forward to even greater growth.”
 
“Business has been booming, as seen in the 343% year-over-year growth we’ve delivered,” said George Symons, CEO, Gridstore. “And this additional funding will enable us to continue that momentum.  Additionally, we’ve added several key executives that I expect will have a significant impact on our achievements in 2016.”
 
New executives:
 
James Thomason, Chief Strategy Officer
He joins Gridstore from Dell, where as CTO he led the vision, technology strategy, and product roadmap for Dell Cloud Marketplace, an online platform that makes it easy for businesses to compare, consume, and control cloud services. He joined Dell through the acquisition of Gale Technologies in 2012, where as CTO he headed the product roadmap, architecture, and engineering of the company’s flagship cloud and converged infrastructure automation software, GaleForce.  Prior to joining Gale Technologies, he was the CTO and founder of Virtiv, a San Francisco, CA cloud automation start-up focused on Linux virtualization, acquired by Gale Technologies in 2011. For over 17 years, as a specialist in distributed systems and large-scale infrastructures, he has been an entrepreneur and innovator at a number of Silicon Valley start-ups, including Exodus Communications, Digital Island, Netli, NetVMG, Netscaler, 3Leaf Systems, and Ning.
 
Phillip Lavery, VP sales, the Americas
He has enjoyed a 25-year career as a senior sales and channel executive, management consultant, and start-up entrepreneur. His expertise is leading sales and business development teams to accelerate revenue through effective direct and channel sales models. Prior to Gridstore, he was Bay Area practice director for Bridge Partners Consulting, helping clients grow through solution sales, strategic partner alignment, and channel execution. He was founding team member and VP WW sales and business development with two start-ups, Scalix and Ondemand, Inc. where he was responsible for all revenue activities from launch to acquisition. He was GM of Microsoft Federal, establishing Microsoft’s presence across DoD and Civilian agencies and drove revenue from start-up to $250 million. He was also director Microsoft Enterprise Partner organization focused on global partnership strategy and sales execution.
 
Kevin Rains, CFO
He has over 25 years of financial and operations management experience specializing in small and mid-sized technology organizations with global footprints. He has served as the CFO of numerous technology based companies in software, hardware, services and SAAS industries. His expertise includes guiding organizations through strategic planning, new product implementations, accounting system implementations, contract negotiation, and equity financing. He has served as a consulting CFO for Ravix Group and was director of operations with Dell Inc. for the ESG (Enterprise Software Group) division.