Tegile Systems, a US-based provider of enterprise storage arrays, has closed its $35m C series funding led by late-stage venture firm Meritech Capital Partners with additional investment by original stakeholder, venture capital firm August Capital, and two new strategic investors, Western Digital Capital, a subsidiary of computer hard disk drive manufacturer Western Digital, and flash memory storage company SanDisk’s strategic investment arm, SanDisk Ventures.
Tegile will utilise the capital for scaling purposes, strengthening its sales and customer support efforts and accelerating new product/technology development.
Previously, Tegile raised $10m in series B funding in April 2012 from August Capital.
Rohit Kshetrapal, chief executive officer of Tegile, said: “We are pleased that our Round C investors include two strategic partners that will strengthen both our relationship and product roadmap even further, and working with an investment firm known to quickly move technology companies to the forefront.”
Tegile’s Zebi product line currently features enterprise-class hard drives and SSDs from HGST, a wholly owned subsidiary of Western Digital. The strategic equity investment by Western Digital extends Tegile’s existing relationship with HGST to include joint technology development.
Mark Long, president, Western Digital Capital, said: “Tegile has developed advanced solutions leveraging the combined strengths of hard disk drive and solid state drive technology. We look forward to exploring the complementary nature of the two technologies and expanding our strategic relationship in the future. We will continue to support the evolution of the storage ecosystem by collaborating with, and investing in, companies like Tegile who are developing innovative technology and addressing key storage opportunities.”
Sumit Sadana, executive vice president and chief strategy officer at SanDisk, said: “We believe that Tegile is well positioned to bring the significant benefits of flash technology to enterprise customers through their innovative hybrid system solution.”
Paul Madera, managing director of Meritech, who joins Tegile’s board of directors, said: “Our investment philosophy is to fund companies that have a unique product, have a proven business model and are gaining traction within the industry – all traits exhibited by Tegile. Like many of the best tech companies we’ve invested in during the past decade, Tegile has the leadership and the innovative potential to be quite transformative.”
Vivek Mehra, general partner of August Capital, said: “As the only provider of outside capital through the first two rounds of the company’s earlier financing, we are pleased to once again have the opportunity to extend our successful relationship with Tegile with our inclusion in this latest funding round.”