Pure Storage, the flash enterprise storage company, raised another $40 million in funding, its second cash infusion despite only launching out of stealth mode a year ago. Index Ventures’ Mike Volpi led the round, with participation from existing investors Greylock Partners, Redpoint Ventures and Sutter Hill Ventures.
The new funding brings the company’s total investment to $95 million. The company will use the cash on marketing efforts and international expansion, specifically a European push through several channel partners. Volpi will join the company’s board of directors and serve as an adviser.
The company produces FlashArray, a flash storage solution designed to be more affordable for businesses. Flash is typically regarded as a more expensive though better storage option. The company enables flash storage for effectively $5 per GB, according to Forbes Magazine. Such a price point opens the market up to a small and medium size businesses beyond the standard enterprise market for typical flash storage. Since launching out of stealth mode last year, the company has sold more than 100 FlashArray devices.
“The advent of solid state memory technology as a mainstream, enterprise-class storage solution represents one of the most disruptive changes that the industry will see in a decade,” said Mike Volpi, partner at Index Ventures. “…We are confident that Pure Storage represents exactly such an industry-defining company. The technology that their team has created is unique and best in class. They are ideally positioned to realize the transformation of enterprise storage to flash memory.”
FlashArray’s technology is compatible with VMWare, Oracle, SQLServer and VDI.
A number of flash storage startups have emerged that claim to drive the price down to more affordable level for businesses, and the one with the lowest math will likely win. Earlier this week, Skyera launched a cloud storage solution at $3 per GB, and could reach a price lower than $1 per GB after data duplication and compression.