Storage software biz DataCore has loaded up its AI development coffers with $60 million to fuel the integration of AI technologies.
The company, founded in 1998, is historically averse to VC funding. Dave Zabrowski became its CEO in 2018 and raised a modest $9.7 million venture round in 2021, the same year as DataCore bought Swarm object storage software supplier Caringo to add to its SANsymphony block storage and vFilo file storage products. It bought MayaData and its OpenEBS Kubernetes (Bolt) storage in November the same year.
As a result of a deal with shared storage supplier Symply in 2022, it released Perifery, a media archiving appliance using Swarm as its object storage base. Perifery became DataCore’s edge division with AI+ services to provide preprocessing tasks at the edge of media and entertainment company workflows. Then it bought entertainment and media-focussed object storage software supplier Object Matrix in January 2023.
None of these events needed more funding as DataCore generated enough cash to sustain and develop its business. But GEN AI has changed all that, and DataCore now needs the cash to climb aboard the Gen AI and cyber-resilience trains.
Zabrowski said in statement: “This pivotal funding marks a new chapter” and “we are poised to accelerate the development of intelligent and resilient solutions in the areas of new-age data infrastructures that not only address today’s data challenges but also pave the way for future advancements. Our goal is to empower businesses with the tools they need to thrive in an increasingly complex digital landscape, driving long-term success and creating sustainable impact.”
DataCore is focused on fueling product innovation with transformative AI and cyber resilience solutions, pushing the boundaries of what is possible in data management. We asked Chief Product Officer Abhi Dey a few questions to find out more.
Blocks & Files: Will the Perifery business move to add GEN AI LLM capabilities?
Abhi Dey: Yes, it is already moving to Gen AI as part of its Intelligent Content Engine (ICE) offering.
Blocks & Files: Will Swarm look to supply data to LLMs, possibly via retrieval-augmented generation (RAG)?
Abhi Dey: Yes, storage solutions in Swarm and Object Matrix will serve as storage endpoints for the data that is then provided to the LLMs to generate more intelligence using AI algorithms.
Blocks & Files: Will Swarm, SANsymphony, Bolt, vFilo, Object Matrix, and Perifery get cyber-resilience features added?
Abhi Dey: Yes: SANsymphony’s third mirror already provides cyber-resilience today. We are extending those capabilities to support NIS2 and KRITIS. Swarm and Object Matrix, by definition, have object immutability which implies WORM-compliant data needed for NIS2. Additionally, the SNS (Single Node Swarm, an edge-based Swarm variant for ROBO and M&E) will add MFA through its existing SAML2 integration. Bolt, now called OpenEBS Pro, has a container-level security stack integrated through the DPDK API. We are extending cyber resilience support to this solution.
Blocks & Files: Will DataCore provide its own LLM chatbot to help its users manage and optimize DataCore products?
Abhi Dey: We will leverage best-of-breed LLMs that are fit for purpose depending on the use case to help users manage their data or content.
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The funding round was led by Vistara Growth and this is DataCore’s largest ever funding round.
Bootnote
NIS2 is a European Union cyber-security directive. The BSI Kritis Regulation defines German national facilities, installations or parts which are considered critical infrastructures and need safeguarding.
