Datrium has gained $60m in D-round funding, as it looks to break out of the hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) herd.
Found in 2012, Datrium pioneered a mid-way between converged and hyperconverged systems with hyperconverged nodes running storage controller software that linked them to a shared storage box.
Datrium said storage and compute could scale separately and claimed performance advantages. But it faced enormous competition and the HCI market consolidated rapidly around two leading suppliers: Dell EMC and VxRail and Nutanix. A second tier of mainstream suppliers is formed by HPE (SimpliVity), Cisco (HyperFlex) and NetApp. There is a third tier of startups, such as Maxta, Pivot3 and Scale Computing.
Datrium is now trying to break away and is calling itself a leader in unified hybrid cloud computing and data management. In our opinion, this is vague.
In July the company hired a new CEO, Tim Page, and its focus is to replace “tired” old VxBlock converged systems.
Page said the fresh funding will help Datrium build technical and geographical momentum: “Enterprises globally have the same problems in simplifying compute and data management across on-prem and cloud. Where SANs don’t even have a path to cloud, traditional HCI has too many trade offs for core data centres – backup requires separate purchasing and administration, and cloud DR automation is seldom guaranteed. Larger enterprises are realising that Datrium software offers them a simpler path.”
The company recently announced Cloud DVX, claiming 2x – 10x lower AWS costs for cloud backup; and CloudShift, a SaaS-based disaster recovery orchestration service for VMware.
Datrium said more than 30 per cent of new customers had adopted the company’s Cloud DVX in the first three months of availability.
It doesn’t say how many such customers there were, nor how many existing customers adopted Cloud DVX, and the adoption claim smacks of somebody trying hard to find something positive to say.
Datrium pulled in its first funding with a $10m A-round in 2012. This was quickly followed by a $40m B-round in 2012, and then with a $55m C-round in 2016. The $60m D round was led by Samsung Catalyst Fund, with participation from Icon Ventures, and existing investors NEA and Lightspeed Venture Partners. Michael Mullany of Icon Ventures will join the Datrium Board. Total funding is now $165m.
