Monday, August 25, 2008

Greylock helps fund $15M for Drobo maker Data Robotics

By Mass High Tech Staff

Boston-based Greylock Partners participated in the recent $15 million Series D funding of California-based data storage device maker Data Robotics Inc., according to online reports.

Greylock joins New York-based RRE Ventures and California-based Sutter Hill Venture Partners as return investors in the company, reports PE Hub, citing regulatory filings. Data Robotics, maker of the Drobo networked storage robot, has raised $28 million since 2005.

Data Robotics, which was founded in 2004, released its Drobo product in 2007, and announced a new higher-capacity version, with four terabytes of storage, in July. The device offers high-level data storage in a package designed to be easy to install and manage for end-users.

Greylock, which also has an office in San Mateo, Calif., has been in investor in Data Robotics since 2005. Other portfolio companies include Bedford-based airport security equipment maker Reveal Imaging Technologies Inc., which raised $20.1 million in March, Waltham-based radio frequency identification (RFID) application software and middleware maker OATSystems Inc., which was acquired by New Jersey’s Checkpoint Systems Inc. for an undisclosed amount in June, and California-based LinkedIn Corp. which recently raised $53 million in funding.

Greylock partner Aneel Bhusri, a former executive at PeopleSoft, sits on the Data Robotics board.