Actifio brings in $100M to take on data storage giants

It pays to help companies use their storage space more efficiently.

Storage space for data, that is. Actifio, a company that dreamed up a way to pare down the number of copies of a given piece of data while ensuring it will be available whenever companies need it, has raised $100 million in new funding.

And now Actifio boasts a valuation “a good $100 million over $1 billion,” the company’s founder and chief executive, Ash Ashutosh, said in an interview with VentureBeat.

With the new money, Actifio is better prepared to compete with storage titan EMC, as well as other vendors, like CommVault and Symantec. The idea is to store data in a more efficient manner, which could be a smart move as companies choose to stock up on more varieties of data.

Facebook has encountered problems with the growth of its data and has looked to ideas like using Blu-ray discs. Sony and Panasonic have since looked seriously at packing more bytes of information onto a single disc.

Actifio approaches long-term storage, backup, and disaster recovery from a different angle. It sells software running on a pair of commodity servers, Ashutosh said.

“Needless copies end up taking up about 60 percent of your storage environment,” Ashutosh said. “You don’t need it.”

Actifio started in 2009, and to date it has raised $207.5 million, including a $50 million round from last year, Ashutosh said. By the end of the year, the Waltham, Mass.-based company will have around 350 employees.

Tiger Global Management led the new founding round. Advanced Technology Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Greylock IL, North Bridge Venture Partners, and Technology Crossover Ventures also participated.

Actifio customers include IBM, SunGard, and Time Warner Cable’s NaviSite.