Irish data storage firm raises €1.5m to fund expansion

GRIDSTORE, AN Irish data storage specialist backed by Iona Technologies founder Chris Horn, has raised €1.5 million in a fundraising round involving NCB, Ulster Bank Diageo Venture Fund and State agency Enterprise Ireland.

Dublin-based Gridstore is a leading developer of new technology known as network-attached storage grids, which are powerful systems for data storage that are designed to avoid the limitations of conventional storage products.

The company has just raised €1.5 million in seed capital from the €75 million Ulster Bank Diageo Venture Fund, which is managed by stock broker and corporate financier NCB. The company is planning to spend the cash on further product development and on a sales campaign in the US, where it has offices in Mountain View, Silicon Valley.

Its chief executive, Kelly Murphy, said yesterday that the funds would allow Gridstore to roll out its product in the US, where the firm believes it has massive potential, particularly amongst small and medium-sized businesses.

Iona Technologies founder Chris Horn, chairs Gridstore, which Mr Murphy and his colleagues, Antoni Sawicki and Tomasz Nowak, founded in 2007.

The company has developed a new generation of low-cost, data storage systems based on a grid concept.

Its products are designed to bridge the gap between expensive systems used by large businesses and network-attached storage (the storage systems linked to an individual network of computers) whose capacity, performance and reliability is generally more limited.

The system operates by creating a shared pool of low-cost storage systems, which allows it to match the scale and reliability of larger systems.

Gridstore introduced its first test product to the market last December, and began selling its products in July.

Its systems won two awards at ITEXPO, the technology exhibition and showcase held recently in Los Angeles.

Mr Horn said that Gridstore is an example of the type of company that the Irish technology industry can produce.

“It is very encouraging to see an Irish venture capital fund, the Ulster Bank Diageo Venture Fund, and Enterprise Ireland support the expansion of Gridstore, which I believe is set to become a global success story,” he added.

The Ulster Bank Diageo Venture Fund invests between €1 million and €5 million in Irish companies and across a range of sectors. NCB Ventures manages the fund.