CDP Startup Atempo Grabs $22M

Backup software startup Atempo has clinched $22 million in Series B funding to bolster its CDP strategy and fund eastward expansion. (See Atempo Grows CDP, Fox Picks Atempo, and Alliance Fiber to Intro New Products.)

The round, which brings Atempo's total funding to just over $38 million, was led by Intel Capital and also included Steelpoint Capital and Ridgewood Capital.

"This is expansion capital," says Neal Ater, the Atempo CEO. "In the U.S., were increasing our sales and marketing presence. We're also adding support people and professional services people."

Specifically, Atempo is going after the U.S. service provider market, where it already has around a half-dozen customers for its LiveBackup CDP product. "By this time next year, we'll have a dozen," says Ater.

Like a number of storage vendors, Atempo is also eyeing the opportunities presented by the emerging Chinese technology market. (See China: Storage Superpower?, Voltaire Opens China Office, On 3Com's Storage Trail, Huawei & Symantec Make It Official, and Huawei, Symantec Form JV.) "We're just getting off the ground in China -- we will be expanding all aspects of sales and marketing," says Ater, explaining that the vendor's five-person Chinese workforce will double in the next 12 months.Within Europe, France remains something of a bastion for Atempo, which is hardly surprising, considering the vendor started life as Paris-based Quadratec. (See Atempo Keeps Paris Running, French Navy Picks Atempo , and UM Provides Backup for Students.) "We're looking to expand in Spain, Italy, and the U.K.," says Ater, estimating that the startup's global workforce will grow from 250 to around 300 over the coming year.

The startup is one of a number of vendors jostling for position in the CDP market. (See Atempo Swallows Storactive and Atempo Acquires Storactive.) Rivals include Mendocino, EMC, and Symantec, which bought Revivio last year. (See Mendocino Embraces Near-CDP, EMC Coughs Up for Kashya, Revivio Finds Buddy; Buyer Next? , and Symantec Swallows Revivio.)

To confront the competition, Atempo, which introduced its first file archiving products earlier this year, will beef up its efforts in that area, according to Francois Gauthier, the vendor's vice president of marketing. (See Fujitsu to Resell Inrange Products.) "We want to invest some of this money in expanding our archiving offerings," he says, explaining that the startup plans to develop support for Windows file servers in the second quarter of next year.

Taneja Group analyst Arun Taneja says ramping up sales is the next big hurdle for Atempo. "Their portfolio is starting to fill out fairly nicely, but the challenge is the same as it is for any of these [CDP] guys," he says, explaining that Atempo needs to maintain a 100 percent growth rate for the next few years.

Although he would not discuss specific figures, Ater told Byte and Switch that the startup is profitable, adding that today's Series B is likely to be the firm's final round. "There's not a specific exit strategy right now, we're not fishing to be acquired," he says. "This is expansion capital to grow the business."