Dell Technologies Capital, the corporate venture capital subsidiary of computing equipment producer Dell, has led a $23m series D round for US-based data storage technology provider CNex Labs.
The round included Microsoft unit M12, Sierra Ventures, Walden Venture Investments, Brightstone Venture Capital and undisclosed semiconductor foundries, large storage and networking semiconductor technology producers, and additional new and existing strategic investors.
CNex produces solid-state drive (SSD) controllers which help organisations build their own SSD storage devices tailored to their individual needs.
The round boosted CNex’s funding to more than $83m altogether, including $20m in a 2014 series A round it has revealed was led by Dell Technologies Capital. It added $18.8m the following year before M12 led a series C round of undisclosed size in March 2017.
The company has revealed that its earlier investors included Cisco Investments and UMC Capital, subsidiaries of networking technology provider Cisco and semiconductor foundry UMC, as well as electronics provider Samsung, storage technology producer Seagate, chipmaker Micron and LDV Partners.
Gregg Adkin, Dell Technologies Capital’s managing director, said: “As one of the first investors in the 2014 series A, we saw the potential for CNex’s technology early on.
“In an era of explosive data growth, CNex’s technology allows hyperscalers and enterprise storage and server providers to use SSDs as a strategic differentiator, purpose-building hardware to suit their needs, while achieving significant cost savings.”
