US-based cloud infrastructure technology developer Lightbits Labs emerged from stealth on Tuesday with $50m in funding from investors that include several corporates.
Memory and data storage technology provider Micron, computing technology provider Dell EMC and networking equipment manufacturer Cisco all contributed to the round.
Venture capital firms SquarePeg Capital and Walden International also participated, as did several unnamed investors, according to VentureBeat, which cited chief executive and co-founder Eran Kirzner
Founded in 2015, Lightbits has developed non-volatile memory express (NVMe) hardware and software that helps enterprise private clouds, software-as-a-service (SaaS) and infrastructure-as-a-service providers store, manage and transfer data more cost-effectively and efficiently.
Kirzner told VentureBeat the proceeds from the round will be used to expand its team and fund the launch of its cloud platform.
The company has not publicly disclosed any previous financing, but it received several million dollars in a 2016 seed round and more than $10m in funding the following year, according to Globes.
Kirzner said in a press statement: “Data centre storage underutilisation has reached epidemic and expensive levels. By unlocking the full value of NVMe, we have changed the playing field for private clouds.
“Our customers – private cloud and SaaS providers – can now capitalise on the best of both worlds: the application performance of using local NVMe [solid state drive] with the simplicity and efficiency of hyperscale.”