Cloud storage startup ClearSky Data gets $27 million in Series B funding

Cloud storage is getting lots of attention recently as more companies shifting their data storage to cloud storage rather than physical storage.

Due to high demand in the area, ClearSky Data, a company focusing on managing a hybrid data-management solution was awarded a $27 million worth of investment to expand its operation.

According to TechCrunch, the investment was obtained from few investors that participated in the project.

The main investor is Akamai Technologies, followed with General Catalyst and Highland Capital Partner. Currently, the company has received a total investment of $39 million.

Polaris Venture's investor, the strategic investor for Akamai Technology, Dave Barret said that the investment is made by its company is a great choice as ClearSky Data's software is revolutionary and could compete with the bigger player such as VMworld and Amazon re:invent.

"It's not easy to do. There is a tremendous amount of storage chops and algorithmic magic that goes into what they've built", he said.

The company's CEO, Ellen Rubin believes that the company will grow further as its operation managed to solve the problem faced by current cloud storage customer through its genius algorithm.

ClearSky Data help customers to distribute the data across different tiers based on customer's data usage.

The software works by storing the most used data in the company's own data center while the second level data will be stored in a location within 120 miles of the company.

Finally for the least used data, it will be stored in Amazon S3 storage system. By performing the following distribution, users will be able to reduce the cost of storing data in cloud storage as less storage capacity will be needed.

Rubin told VentureBeat in an interview that the company is "figuring out on an ongoing basis using our own algorithms which of the data within the workload are actually hot and warm and cold, and making sure that data is sitting where it needs to be sitting in our service"

Although the three-prong approach used by the company seems difficult, its company pride in having low-latency in its service, as reported in the Boston Business Journal.

This means that there are no delays during the processing of the network data and allow its customer to obtain the data stored immediately.

The Boston-based company with 40 employees plans to invest in expanding its infrastructure using the investment including hiring more worker as it expands. Currently, the company provides its service in only three location in the US which is Boston, Las Vegas, and Philadelphia.

Currently, the number of customers signing up with ClearSky Data is still confidential but its CEO said that the number is at a good level. Rubin is expected to reveal more details regarding its customer soon.