Today Gridstore, the leader in next generation software-defined, scale out storage solutions, announced a $12.5 million fundraising. GGV Capital is very excited to become an investor in Gridstore, co-leading this financing along with Onset Ventures.
Gridstore was co-founded by Kelly Murphy, Tomasz Nowak and Antoni Sawicki, and they’ve built an innovative product that customers love. We first met the company through an introduction by Geoff Barrall. Geoff, the founder of BlueArc, DataRobotics and Connected Data, is among the most respected players in the storage industry. I’ve known Geoff for years and am extremely excited to be working with him on the board at Gridstore. Our investment in Gridstore was based on three keys:
- Innovation. The software defined data center is arriving just as businesses of all sizes are struggling with the demands of virtualization, big data and cloud computing. Gridstore has been devised and developed from the ground up as a software-defined storage solution. The solution scales linearly, can be managed with ease and is well positioned to address the needs of the market going forward.
- Team. The team, led by Kelly, Antoni and Tomasz, includes industry veterans from luminary companies such as VMware, Data Domain, EMC, Riverbed, Citrix and BlueArc. Kelly is a terrific leader and is doing a great job continuing to grow out all key functions at the company.
- Market Opportunity. Storage demands continue to grow and unprecedented rates for SMBs and enterprises. At GGV, we’ve been fortunate to have invested in Isilon and Nimble, two companies that have capitalized on the growing needs in the market. Similarly, Gridstore is ideally positioned to benefit for years to come.
The future looks bright for Gridstore. Stay tuned for many exciting developments!