xkoto (http://www.xkoto.com), the database virtualization company, today announced that it has raised $3 million in financing from existing investors GrandBanks Capital and GrowthWorks Canadian Fund. xkoto has now raised a total of $13 million since its was founded in 2005.
xkoto will use the funds to build its sales force, accelerate customer acquisition, and continue to enhance its GRIDSCALE database virtualization product. The company experienced record 2008 sales, added several global corporations as customers, and closed the year with 275 percent growth in the fourth quarter.
“We are extremely encouraged by the great progress xkoto has made marketing and selling its GRIDSCALE database virtualization software, as well as the reception the product and company have received from large, multi-national corporations,” said Tim Wright, General Partner, GrandBanks Capital. “Demand continues to grow for solutions that improve the reliability of business-critical applications, and we are excited to be working with a company that is well-positioned to meet this demand.”
“xkoto’s significant DB2 wins combined with a strong entrance into the Microsoft SQL Server market are true indicators of the company’s potential,” said Tim Lee, Senior VP, Investments for GrowthWorks*. “The company ended 2008 with a great deal of momentum and we are pleased to be able to provide additional funding that will build on this success.”
GRIDSCALE virtualizes the database infrastructure, enabling businesses to distribute application load horizontally across multiple instances of commercial databases running on clusters of low-cost hardware, mid-range systems and virtual machines. With GRIDSCALE, businesses can improve application performance and achieve continuous availability for business-critical applications. Visit http://www.xkoto.com/database_virtualization for more information about the benefits of database virtualization.
“2008 was a great year for us on both the customer and industry fronts,” said David Patrick, President and CEO of xkoto. “In addition to the rapid growth in our customer base, we received industry accolades in being named InformationWeek’s startup company of the year. We enter 2009 with a great deal of optimism and look forward to continuing our strong relationships with GrandBanks and GrowthWorks.”
About GrandBanks Capital
GrandBanks Capital invests in early stage technology companies located primarily in the eastern part of the United States and Canada. With headquarters outside of Boston, the firm was established in partnership with SOFTBANK Corp. and has proven investment expertise in Internet infrastructure, software, security and storage applications, media and wireless technologies and services, and financial technologies and services. The GrandBanks Capital portfolio currently includes: Colubris Networks Inc., Coradiant Inc., Ember Corporation, Enpocket Inc., First Coverage Inc., GlassHouse Technologies, Inc., Incipient, Inc., OutStart, Inc., uLocate Communications, Inc, Vela Systems, Inc., and Vivox. For more information, please visit http://grandbanks-wp.millersystems.com.
About GrowthWorks
GrowthWorksTM managed funds provide investment capital for Canadian companies and tax-advantaged investment opportunities for Canadian investors. GrowthWorks, Canada’s leader in venture capital investing**, manages approximately $750 million in assets through the Working Opportunity Fund (EVCC) Ltd., GrowthWorks Atlantic Venture Fund Ltd., GrowthWorks Commercialization Fund Ltd. and GrowthWorks Canadian Fund Ltd. GrowthWorks identifies, analyzes and structures investments in companies with high growth potential. Particular emphasis is placed on IT, Life Sciences and Advanced Manufacturing sectors. For more information, please visit http://www.growthworks.ca.
About xkoto
xkoto, the database virtualization company, enables businesses to ensure maximum scalability and availability for critical applications. The company’s GRIDSCALE database virtualization software is an active-active solution that assures data is delivered on demand at a significantly reduced cost. GRIDSCALE is used by leading companies in financial services, healthcare, insurance, manufacturing, retail and government. xkoto’s partners include IBM, Microsoft, VMware, Citrix, and Sun Microsystems. For more information, visit: http://www.xkoto.com or call +1.416.440.7001.
