xkoto Secures $7.5 Million in Series B Financing from GrandBanks Capital and GrowthWorks Canadian Fund

xkoto Inc., a provider of data virtualization solutions, today announced it has raised $7.5 million in new financing. The Series B funding was led by GrandBanks Capital. Existing investor GrowthWorks Canadian Fund also participated in this round, bringing xkoto’s total venture funding to $10 million. In conjunction with the funding, xkoto also named seasoned software industry executive David Patrick as CEO, and announced that Khalil Barsoum and Tim Wright have joined the xkoto board.
Series B Funding
Building on recent customer initiatives with UnitedHealthcare, The Children’s Place Retail, Genworth Financial, InGrid, Travelport and two leading global investment firms, xkoto will use the new financing to increase its product portfolio to support multiple database and ISV platforms, expand its U.S. presence, further accelerate sales and establish strategic partnerships. xkoto’s technology platform and flagship product, the GRIDSCALE Database Load Balancer, empowers SMBs and Fortune 100 companies to manage virtualized data through a single transparent interface so that applications become continuously available and horizontally scalable. Its patent-pending technology enables commercial off-the-shelf databases to run in a grid with the same or better reliability and performance as much more expensive proprietary systems. “Today’s IT organizations are exploring various emerging technologies to find the ideal solution to decrease costs and increase efficiency,” said Tim Wright, General Partner, GrandBanks Capital. “With a proven product and broad customer deployments, xkoto is very well positioned to leverage the pent up demand for truly scalable solutions that ensure database availability across distributed enterprises. We are looking forward to helping them continue their impressive growth trajectory.” “David’s leadership and GrandBanks’ expertise builds on xkoto’s strengths in utility, grid computing and data virtualization and will enable xkoto’s rapid expansion in the U.S.,” said Tim Lee, SVP Investments, GrowthWorks Capital. “GrowthWorks is proud to provide continued financing and support to xkoto as we believe the company will be the leader in the data virtualization market.” U.S.-Based CEO Appointment With over 25 years of senior executive experience in the software industry, Patrick joins xkoto as its new CEO, based in Boston. Co-founding President and CEO Albert Lee will become Chief Strategy Officer. Previously, Patrick was Vice President & General Manager at Novell, where he managed the Linux, Open Source, and Platform Services Group. In this position, he was responsible for the $450 million division that included Novell’s SUSE Linux and Netware operating systems, electronic mail products and a number of emerging open source technologies. “Companies of all sizes are faced with a mounting data problem – more data, complex systems and distributed computing environments,” said Patrick. “Our additional funding and board expansion will help xkoto apply virtualization to data center architecture to transform it from a liability into an asset. I’m pleased to be joining the company at this critical juncture.” Patrick joined Novell in 2003 as part of the acquisition of Ximian, a leading Linux and Open Source software company, where he was President and CEO. Patrick’s previous experience includes President of Worldwide Sales and Operations for The Learning Company, COO of WordStar, Vice President for Worldwide Sales and Marketing at the Tops networking division of Sun Microsystems, and President of Migent International. Earlier in his career he held several senior management positions at Ashton-Tate and Lotus. Patrick has a bachelor of arts degree from the Berklee School of Music and serves on Berklee’s Presidential Advisory Council. He also serves as an advisor to a number of early-stage technology companies. Board Expansion In conjunction with the investment, industry veteran Khalil Barsoum and Tim Wright, General Partner, GrandBanks Capital, have joined xkoto’s board of directors. Barsoum and Wright join Roger Chabra of GrowthWorks, Mark Stirling, President, Treadstone Associates, and Albert Lee, Chief Strategy Officer, xkoto, in this capacity. Barsoum has held a number of senior executive positions with IBM including Chairman and CEO of IBM Canada, Chairman and CEO of IBM UK, and General Manager, Communications Sector. Wright is a General Partner of GrandBanks Capital and has previously served as CIO and CTO of several global public companies including Geac Computer Corporation Ltd. (NASDAQ: GEAC), Terra Lycos S.A. (NASDAQ: TRLY) and The Learning Company (NYSE: TLC). 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 www.grandbankscapital.com. About GrowthWorks
GrowthWorks managed funds provide investment capital for Canadian companies and tax-advantaged investment opportunities for Canadian investors. GrowthWorks manages more than $800 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. Building on more than 15 years of investment expertise, GrowthWorks is a leader in Canadian venture capital management. For more information please visit www.growthworks.ca. About xkoto
Founded in 2005, xkoto’s technology platform enables the replication and virtualization of data. The GRIDSCALE Database Load Balancer manages a geographic grid of standard, commercial databases, making them appear virtually as a single local database so that applications become continuously available and horizontally scalable. Through its proven disruptive technology, xkoto currently empowers SMBs and Fortune 100 companies to decrease costs and increase utilization. Recently named one of Deloitte’s 2007 Companies-to-Watch, xkoto’s technology partners include IBM, Microsoft, Novell, Sun Microsystems and Sybase. xkoto is based in Toronto and Boston. For more information about xkoto, visit http://www.xkoto.com.