Niagara Falls of cash: Storage startup Rubrik showers in VC moolah

Palo Alto storage software startup Rubrik has inhaled $261m in an E-round of funding, taking its total funding to north of $553m and giving it a $3.3bn valuation. Investors in the five-year-old firm include Bain Capital Ventures, investing in Rubrik for the first time, and existing investors Lightspeed, Greylock, Khosla, and …

[astounded1]

Is It Still A Startup - Or Is It A Form Of Gambling?

By the time this Rubrik'sCcube gets sorted, the next data storage magic cube will appear out of the quantum particle dance competition.

In this case, IPO actually means: "Thanks very much...I'M PAID OFF!!!"

[Anonymous Coward]

Take the money, but the valuation could bite you

I think management is doing the right thing. If cheap money is available, take it. The only problem is that they are now priced beyond perfection. Rubrik is catching up to Pure's valuation. Pure has had a much longer and sustained history of growth and is addressing a much larger market. To grow into their valuation Rubrik's financials have to be considerably better than Pure. That's a tall order given the smaller size of the secondary storage market and other fast growing competition such as Cohesity and Veeam (not to mention AWS).

When the bumps happen up ahead the extra money cushion will come in handy, but employees and later investors could become unhappy if a future round or an IPO takes the valuation down instead of up.

[JP_Veeam]

Re: Take the money, but the valuation could bite you

Well said. It used to be companies were compared by their ability to deliver revenue, not how much money they could raise. Raising money just means the existing investors are diluted or the financials do not support an IPO yet.

[Anonymous Coward]

Fresh Funds to Party at VMworld?

Does this mean we're going to have a HUGE party at VMworld?