Tegile scores VC cash to splash on flash growth dash

Tegile has landed itself a massive $70m D-round of funding to pay for global expansion of its hybrid/all-flash array business.

Founded in 2010 with a $2.l5m A-round that year, Tegile took in a $10m B-round in 2012, and a $35m C-round in 2013. Total funding now stands at $117.5m.

In comparison, fellow hybrid array startup Tintri has taken in $135m. The third of the hybrid array startup trio, Nimble Storage, was funded to the tune of $98m when it made its own IPO in December 2013.

Tegile has got its D-round cash from the existing investors – August Capital, Meritech Capital Partners, Western Digital and SanDisk – plus three new ones: Capricorn Investment Group, Cross Creek Advisors and Pine River Capital Management. It says it shipped its first box in 2012, with more than 1,500 shipped to date, into medium and large enterprises.

CEO Rohit Kshetrapal’s prepared quote said: “The enterprise flash storage market is rapidly evolving and there are a number of companies vying for leadership position, … With this infusion of venture and debt capital, we will be able to satisfy the rising demand for our Tegile Intelligent Flash Arrays and methodically build Tegile into a sustainable multi-billion-dollar business that will deliver maximum value to our investors.”

The “methodically build” phrase means that Tegile will double its 300-employee count in the next 18 months, ramp up its sales teams in North America, expand its reseller channel in Europe and Asia, and generally scale-up its operations.

It also has a tech roadmap packed full of advances such as PCIe flash, 3D/TLC flash, tiered flash, scale-out clusters and a cloud back-end. The biz roadmap has an IPO as its big coming event; we’re thinking late 2016/early 2017. ®