If we get funding now, our tech must be good
Those lucky enough to get investment against the backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic are highlighting what that might say about their offerings to the market
If the ability to attract funding during a pandemic is a sign of the strength of the tech sector, then Wasabi and Couchbase can be added to the list of firms to succeed in gaining financial backing despite Covid-19.
Both firms have indicated that some of the funding will be used to bolster their channel programmes and support indirect sales ambitions.
Couchbase has gained $105m in a series G round of fundraising, led by GPI Capital, and has said the money will be used for product development as well as its customer-facing operations.
The NoSQL server and mobile database platform specialist gained the backing of investors keen to get involved with a technology that is seeing high levels of customer demand.
“To be competitive today, enterprises must transform digitally and use technology to get closer to their customers and improve the productivity of their workforces,” said Couchbase president and CEO Matt Cain. “To do so, they require a cloud-native database built specifically to support modern web, mobile and IoT [internet of things] applications.
“Completing this funding round in the current climate is a testament to the importance of modern databases and the relevance of Couchbase as we continue our path to becoming a large, public company.”
Over at Wasabi, the cloud storage company announced it has closed a $30m financing round led by Forestay Capital.
That money will mainly be used to expand the firm’s reach, with plans to deepen its presence in Europe through MSPs and other channel partners.
“In an extremely difficult funding market, we’ve been able to raise money at a significant uptick in valuation,” said David Friend, Wasabi’s CEO and co-founder.
“We focus 100% of our attention on doing one thing really, really well – storing data in the cloud. Our investors recognise the power of our business model and the virtually limitless market opportunity that we are addressing.”
Frederic Wohlwend, managing partner of Forestay Capital, said his company recognised the efforts Wasabi had made on the channel front. “In just three years, Wasabi has harnessed the complex technology that powers its storage and built a strong distribution channel in record time,” he said.
“Technology decision-makers don’t want to be locked into a single cloud ecosystem – they want choice.”
Some of the firms managing to get financial backing at the moment are stressing that if they can secure backing during a pandemic, then their technology must be strong.
Yesterday, Israeli surveillance data management startup D-ID gained more than $13.5m as part of its Round A fundraising.
“Raising this level of investor interest during a period of economic uncertainty speaks to the need our solutions fill,” said Sella Blondheim, COO and co-founder at D-ID.
The funding round was led by AXA Venture Partners, and investors in the round included Pitango Venture Capital, Y-Combinator, AI Alliance, Hyundai Motor Company, OMRON Ventures, Maverick Ventures, Mindset Ventures and Redds Capital.
D-ID plans to use the funds to support an expansion of sales and marketing activities, as well as investing in R&D.
