Pirus Networks, an Acton, Mass., firm that links storage area networks with LANs and WANs, has raised more than $27
million in second-round financing, for research and development, sales and marketing.
New backing include StorageNetworks , of Waltham, Mass., and Veritas Software
, of Mountain View, Calif.
BlueStream Ventures was lead investor. Bessemer Venture Partners, Charles River Venture Partners, Comdisco Ventures, GATX Ventures, Morgan Keegan and
Silicon Valley Bank also participated.
Since its founding in December 1999, Pirus has banked more than $45 million in equity capital. The tally indicates that infrastructure plays are still viewed as
long-term winners, compared to e-commerce, content and other startups that have had a harder time raising money.
Tom Erickson, a BlueStream Ventures general partner, said Pirus is “targeted at a significant emerging market segment.” Peter Bell, chairman and CEO of
StorageNetworks said Pirus’ technology can be a good mix with its own data storage management services.
In addition to its investment news, Pirus also made two other announcements this morning.
First, it will more than double the size of its headquarters to 46,000 square feet to accommodate a workforce that’s grown from 12 to 100. Second, it has acquired
Blue Spruce Networks, a Wichita, Kan., storage software engineering firm. Terms were not disclosed.
The Blue Spruce team includes engineers with expertise in storage architecture design, fibre channel, storage software development and operating systems platform
integration, which complement Pirus’ own strengths. The company will remain in Wichita, serving as a Pirus branch office.
Rich Napolitano, Pirus’ president and CEO, said, “Pirus recognized that the Blue Spruce team would immediately accelerate our ability to drive the convergence of
IP and storage networking systems.”