In-Q-Tel (IQT), the venture capital firm funded by the US Central Intelligence Agency, signed a strategic investment and development agreement with the US-based data management company Power Assure on Wednesday. The amount of investment was undosclosed.
Power Assure’s last round of funding, which raised $1.5m in September 2010, included investment by Switzerland-based power and automation conglomerate ABB and Good Energies, a quasi-corporate investor acting on behalf of the Brenninkmeijer family, which runs clothing firm C&A.
Also investing were venture capital firms Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ) and Point Judith Capital, both of which funded Power Assure’s $11.3m series B round in July 2010 alongside Good Energies. DFJ also funded Power Assure’s $2.5m series A round the year before.
William Strecker, chief technology officer of IQT, said: "Power Assure is an important addition to our strategic investment portfolio. Power Assure’s software will offer our customers in the U.S. intelligence community capabilities to drive additional efficiencies into their data centers by managing power consumption, optimizing asset utilization, and aligning power management with business processes."
Power Assure’s data centre energy management platform analyses the data in a data centre using key performance indicators, allowing managers to identify inefficiencies and cut power consumption, maxmising the use of the space and power available. In addition to venture capital, Power Assure was also the recipient of a $5m grant from the US Depatment of Energy in 2010.