Compellent Secures $14.0M in Additional FundingJuly 17, 2003
Cargill Ventures Leads Round Including Existing Investors El Dorado Ventures and Crescendo Ventures
Minneapolis, July 17, 2003 — Compellent Technologies, a rapidly emerging network storage company, today announced that it has secured over $14 million in additional financing from Cargill Ventures and existing investors El Dorado Ventures and Crescendo Ventures. This latest financing brings the company's total funding to over $23 million.
Compellent is developing a new storage architecture delivering the utmost flexibility to store, manage, and recover mission-critical data. Based on achieving significant development milestones, this additional capital enables Compellent to expand its product development, channel sales, and marketing programs. The company also plans to expand the Compellent Customer Council (C3), a group of network storage resellers and their customers that actively provide feedback on Compellent's product and market entry directions.
Securing such substantial funding validates Compellent's underlying technology, direction, and market feedback. The company has been able to identify and develop solutions that creatively address customers' network storage issues, significantly expanding the addressable network storage market.
"We are impressed with the scope of Compellent's offerings, as well as the team's accomplishments to date," said David Patchen, managing director of Cargill Ventures. "Compellent has a product roadmap that clearly addresses fundamental storage challenges faced by today's global enterprises such as Cargill."
"Compellent has done a remarkable job recognizing and meeting an underserved network storage segment," states Jeff Hinck, general partner at Crescendo Ventures. "We share a strong confidence level with the other investors in the team's ability to exploit a large market opportunity with an innovative product offering."
About Cargill Ventures
Cargill Ventures, a business unit of Cargill, Incorporated based in Minneapolis, invests in emerging technology companies that enable commerce, innovation and supply chain efficiencies that help Cargill be a global leader in providing goods and services necessary for life, health and growth. Cargill Ventures maintains offices in San Mateo, Calif., and Minneapolis. Cargill is an international marketer, processor and distributor of agricultural, food, financial and industrial products and services with 97,000 employees in 59 countries. The company provides distinctive customer solutions in supply chain management, food applications, and health and nutrition. For additional information visit www.cargillventures.com or www.cargill.com.
About Crescendo Ventures
Crescendo Ventures is a global venture capital firm that provides early-stage financing and growth resources to high-potential companies in the communications and enterprise infrastructure industries. By collaborating with entrepreneurial teams to grow market-leading companies, Crescendo Ventures uses its industry expertise, team-based d evelopment model and global network to help high-growth companies achieve their full potential. Founded in 1993, Crescendo Ventures manages more than $1 billion from its headquarters in Palo Alto, California and offices in Minneapolis and London. For additional information visit www.crescendoventures.com.
About El Dorado Ventures
El Dorado Ventures is a leading venture capital partnership founded in 1986. EDV funds invest in early-stage, technology-based companies. With a particular focus on enterprise software and services; communications; and semiconductors and systems, the general partners help entrepreneurs turn startups into companies of lasting value. El Dorado's general partners have funded more than 100 start-ups over the past 25 years, including notable companies such as Earthlink Networks, Efficient Networks, Integrated Device Technologies, Novellus Systems, NuSpeed Internet Systems and Sun Microsystems. EDV is currently investing in new start-ups from the $250 million El Dorado Ventures VI Fund. For additional information visit www.eldorado.com.
About Compellent
Compellent delivers affordable, modular storage solutions exclusively through business partners that provide companies of all sizes enterprise storage capabilities without big system costs or complexities. For more information, visit www.compellent.com.