Storage start-ups scoop £1bn of funding in 2012

Four per cent year-on-year increase in global funding, according to new research

Global funding for storage start-ups reached the $1bn (£621m) mark in 2012, according to new research, which claims that pressure for more efficient storage is driving new technology.

Findings from analyst 451 Research's Investment in Storage report show that worldwide storage investment rose by four per cent in 2012 compared with the previous year.

Violin Memory topped the leader board for solid-state storage funding in 2012, receiving $80m in 2012, bringing its total funding to $182m. Flash vendor Whiptail secured $31m of start-up funding last year, and Avere Systems almost doubled its total following a $20m injection in 2012.

Cloud storage start-up firms enjoyed $469m of funding overall, including security vendor Mimecast disclosing more than $62m last year.

Simon Robinson, 451 Research's vice president for storage, said start-up businesses are an engine for innovation.

"There is huge pressure to make the enterprise storage infrastructure much more efficient than it currently is, and this is opening the door for a wide range of innovations that entrepreneurs believe can disrupt the market," he added.

"And although the vast majority of enterprise spending on storage infrastructure is concentrated on a handful of very large suppliers, start-ups remain the engine of innovation, and the large exits commanded by a small minority make storage a very attractive area for investors."

Robinson predicted big things in 2013 for some well-funded storage players, including Whiptail, Pure Storage, Kaminario and SolidFire.