Data storage startup VAST Data announced Tuesday it closed on an $83 million Series D, bringing the young company’s total valuation to $3.7 billion. The round was led by Tiger Global Management, with “strong participation” from NVIDIA and several other unnamed existing investors.
Launched in 2019, VAST Data aims to usher in a new era in data storage, replacing outdated hard drives with its scalable all-flash storage system that helps users store their data efficiently and affordably. Its Universal Storage platform is used by a variety of private and public institutions, from the U.S. National Institute of Health to Oscar-winning content creators, according to the company. More recently, VAST Data launched a new software consumption model called Gemini, which separates hardware and software, providing even more tools than its Universal Storage platform.
“The pioneering and inventive spirit of our team influences every aspect of our product and business and has redefined how successful businesses can be built,” founder and CEO Renen Hallak said in a statement. “We are humbled by today’s validation from Tiger and NVIDIA. It is evidence of our accomplishments to date and serves as a launchpad for the opportunity ahead of us.”
Indeed, VAST Data has seemed to have hit its stride. The company reached a $1.2 billion valuation last April after raising a $100 million Series C, meaning it has more than tripled its valuation in just a year. It also closed out last year with an annualized software run rate nearing $100 million, a software business that quadrupled year over year, and the achievement of cash flow positivity.
These accomplishments, says the company, make it the “fastest-selling infrastructure startup in history,” and leaves it poised to “disrupt and transform” cloud and AI data centers around the world.
“VAST Data’s innovative engine has resulted in a breakout business story that speaks for itself,” John Curtis, a partner at Tiger Global, said in a statement. “We’re excited to partner with VAST as they transform the value that organizations extract from their data, and we see incredible potential as enterprises embrace data-driven AI computing across every facet of their business.”
Like its Series C and Series B rounds, VAST Data says it plans to do “nothing” with this fresh funding besides letting it sit in the bank to generate interest.
“Today we are sitting on ~$230M of unspent capital, with no plans to draw down on this cash while we continue hyper-growth,” Jeff Denworth, the company’s CMO and co-founder, explained in a recent blog post. “While we didn’t need funds, our interest in resetting our performance benchmark took us down the path of talking with some very significant investors who only engage when they can write significant checks. Tiger plays big, and we wanted to give them a sufficiently big enough opportunity to participate in our growth without selling off or diluting too much of the company. ~$80M felt right.”
The company is now hiring, though, with more than 50 open positions available at its NYC headquarters and offices around the world.
