In terms of cloud storage, simplicity seems to be a selling point. Wasabi Technologies Inc. said today that it has raised $250 million in fresh capital. The company provides low-cost storage-as-a-service based on a straightforward pricing strategy. 

Wasabi, a storage startup, has raised $250 million in its latest funding round, according to a report from CNBC , boosting its valuation to $1 billion. The $250 million investment round was led by SoftBank Group Corp.’s Vision Fund, with participation from other investors, including Sequoia, NEA, and Accel. This investment pushes the total funding raised by the cloud storage startup to date to $300 million, which means that Wasabi is now a unicorn.

Company History

Wasabi is a global provider of cloud data storage with no usage surcharges or tiring that offers cloud data storage at about one-fifth the cost of large hyperscale providers. The company was founded in 2015 by longtime business partners and serial entrepreneurs David Friend (pictured) and Jeff Flowers. Customers that download their data or transfer it to other cloud providers are charged “egress fees” by the three major hyperscalers, a practice that has irked some users. Wasabi, in comparison, has no egress costs and offers a fixed rate of $5.99 per terabyte per month with savings for long-term users.

Wasabi’s expansion into additional markets

According to TechCrunch, the new stock will support current channel agreements Wasabi’s expansion into new regions. In terms of the debt, he continued, it will be utilised to fund infrastructure and equipment in Wasabi’s storage regions while enhancing the company’s capabilities with sector-specific products.

The majority of the world’s data will move from on-premises storage to the cloud over the course of the next ten years or more, and Wasabi will receive the majority of that data. “I believe that closing a sizable up round in this climate speaks to the phenomenal growth of Wasabi, the scope of the cloud storage potential, and our leadership as the largest pure-play cloud storage vendor in the industry.”

Wasabi was founded by David Friend and Jeff Flowers in 2015, while David Friend was still the CEO of the cloud backup startup Carbonite. Flowers, who had previously worked at Carbonite, had been developing Wasabi with a number of the company’s original engineers when she eventually persuaded Friend to join the project.

 The scale of the investment round is significant in a market where technology stocks have been badly hit this year, with some seeing valuations plummet by more than 80%. Having led around 30 capital rounds with prior firms, Chief Executive Friend noted, “It was certainly the most difficult fundraising I’ve ever done.”

Friend added that now is the perfect moment to expand Wasabi’s business despite concerns about a worldwide recession and indications that investment on information technology is slowing. As data moves from on-prem to the cloud, he said, “this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to collect it.” “Once users relocate their data, it often sticks there. Over the next five years, I aim to acquire as much of it as I can.

Wasabi was a pioneer in the cloud storage industry and the only firm not also selling cloud infrastructure to be included in International Data Corp. ‘s 2020 MarketScape for U.S. public cloud cold storage services. In spite of recent competition from firms like Cloudflare Inc. and Seagate Technology Holdings PLC, according to Friend, his company has an advantage thanks to its network of 13,000 partners and 13 storage locations.

Conclusion

Storage startups seem to be all the rage these days, and Wasabi Technologies Inc. is one of the latest companies to join the bandwagon. With this latest round of funding, the company has raised a total of $300 million and reached unicorn status – meaning it has received investment worth more than $1 billion. Though its storage products may not be as flashy as some of its competitors’, Wasabi’s low-cost storage-as-a-service model seems to be resonating with investors.

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