UK-based AI data storage firm PEAK:AIO has secured more than $6.8 million in seed funding to accelerate product development, expand its team, and forge partnerships for global growth.
The software-defined all-flash storage company was founded in 2021. In March, it announced a 2RU DataServer, a pNFS NAS system based on a Dell server with Solidigm NVMe SSDs and Nvidia CX7 Ethernet NICs. PEAK:AIO says its software “delivers dramatically faster performance while consuming less energy,” and has talked about a CXL memory-based KV cache offload system. It also has an NVMe flash-based PEAK:ARCHIVE product offering up to 1.4 PB capacity in a 2RU chassis.
PEAK:AIO will use the new funding to accelerate its global expansion, grow its team, and advance development of its high-performance platform. The company currently offers a single-node Data Server and plans to evolve it into a fully scale-out system.
Co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer Mark Klarzynski said: “We’ve already proven what true AI-first infrastructure can achieve; now we’re scaling that vision. This funding fuels the next phase of PEAK:AIO: open, high-performance, and built to outpace legacy at every level. Our upcoming designs are engineered to set a new standard, one that legacy systems simply weren’t built to reach.”
Klarzynski said he is considering new product ranges and enhancements enabled by the funding. The company “is shifting gear, moving from category-defining performance in single-node systems to building the future of scaled-out, AI-native infrastructure and beyond. The company will accelerate the delivery of its pNFS platform, KV cache and AI-focused S3, while embracing modern-day architectures like CXL, and grow its global footprint through strategic partnerships and on-the-ground deployments.”
The funding round was led by UK-based Pembroke VCT with a $5 million investment, with participation from Praetura Ventures, also in the UK, and joined by a Silicon Valley investor.
Viewed simply as an AI-focused, fast all-flash array supplier, PEAK:AIO has formidable competition: Dell, DDN, HPE, IBM, NetApp, Pure Storage, VAST Data, and WEKA, for example, with Cloudian and MinIO in the speedy object storage space as well. Its product technology will need to significantly outpace and outshine these suppliers to gain traction.
The investors are positive. Fred Ursell, Head of Investments at Pembroke Investment Managers, said: “With a team that has repeatedly scaled and exited category-defining businesses, and early validation from some of the most complex customers in the world, we believe PEAK:AIO is positioned to be a critical enabler of the AI revolution.”
Louise Chapman, a Fund Principal at Praetura Ventures, added: “Our investment into PEAK:AIO comes at a very opportune time for the AI sector, with Google, Microsoft and Nvidia all announcing plans to invest tens of billions into the UK. Going forward, this news will create even bigger opportunities for companies such as PEAK:AIO, which has already been enjoying impressive traction to date – both in the UK and on a global scale. We’re now looking forward to being part of the company’s next chapter and supporting the team.”
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