Pure Storage bags biggest investment in storage history

Ambitious storage vendor closes £150m pre-IPO round of funding and looks to expand European operations

All-flash vendor Pure Storage has signed off the single largest fundraising payout in the history of the storage industry - raking in $150m (£96.67m) in Series E funding.

The hefty investment comes courtesy of T Roew Price, Tiger Global Management and other public-market investors and was fully supported by previous venture capital investors. It brings the total capital raised to $245m and sets the firm on track for an initial public offering (IPO).

The US-based vendor wants to splash the newest round of cash on expansion in Europe and Asia as well as on growing in sales, support and marketing teams globally. It also hopes to pump more cash into research and development.

Earlier this year, when Pure Storage launched in EMEA and began its hunt for resellers, its chief executive Scott Dietzen said he wants his company to eat into storage giant EMC's market share and insisted he would not sell the company as it grew.

Since releasing its flagship flash product in 2012, Pure Storage has achieved over 50 per cent consecutive quarterly growth and claims to have surpassed previous industry growth benchmarks set by NetApp and Data Domain to make it the fastest-growing storage company in the industry's history.

The firm claims its channel has more than doubled quarter on quarter in the one year it has been in full operation.

Dietzen said: "2013 has already proven to be an auspicious year for Pure Storage, with record growth on all fronts and our recipe for all-flash storage at the price of disk anointed as the one to which our competitors aspire.

"Fortified by this pre-IPO funding round, we will continue to accelerate our global business. Expect even bigger things from Pure in the months and years to come."

Data Domain chief executive and initial angel investor Frank Slootman has joined Pure Storage's board of directors and joins VMware founder Diane Green. Slootman will take a more hands-on approach within the company as well as strategically guiding it to IPO, the vendor claims.