Cleversafe cooks up $55M for low-cost object storage targeting 'big data' needs

Cleversafe, a provider of low-cost data storage products, has raised $55 million in its fourth round of funding, which will help it further reach out to big data and cloud-focused businesses.

Chicago-based Cleversafe’s flagship dsNet object storage systems protect data and metadata equally. Basically, it cuts up your data and distributes it evenly to help you make sure you never lose your data. Cleversafe claims it has shipped more than 200 petabytes of storage capacity since it was founded back in 2004.

“There is a fast-growing hunger for efficient, cost-effective solutions to manage massive volumes of data, and Cleversafe’s solution completely disrupts the economics of storage at a petabyte-scale,” Cleversafe CEO John Morris said in a statement. “Our proven technology is displacing legacy boxes that were designed for yesterday’s storage needs across a wide range of industries. What they have in common is breakneck growth of storage needs that were poorly addressed by old-fashioned products from EMC and others.”

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The new $55 million round was led by New Enterprise Associates (NEA), with participation New World Ventures. NEA Managing General Partner Peter Barris will join Cleversafe’s board.

“Cleversafe is way ahead of the innovation curve in storage technology,” Barris said in a statement. “Today, the company is seeing demand for its cost-efficient storage solution from an entirely new class of customer across a growing set of verticals. This demand will only accelerate as an ever-increasing volume of data is generated, and there is no better time for a company with the right technology to step forward to solve today’s business challenges.”

On top of hiring more employees and boosting marketing, this new round will assist Cleversafe in expanding to new vertical markets and engineering new products.