SEATTLE, WA – Aug. 10, 2007 – illumita, an emerging company in the burgeoning field of virtualization technology, announced today it has secured $6 million in series A funding from Madrona Venture Group, Ignition Partners, Bezos Expeditions and Washington Research Foundation. illumita was founded with technology developed in the Department of Computer Science & Engineering at the University of Washington. The funding will help illumita accelerate its product development, as well as sales and marketing activities to provide virtualization services and solutions to a range of enterprise customers.
A recent report from analyst firm IDC predicts server virtualization will become a $20 billion industry by 2010. The report also indicates $17 billion of that money will be spent on the virtualization solutions and services segment that illumita is targeting, on top of the $3.1 billion for virtualization software licenses.
illumita is also announcing several additions to its executive team. Steve Brodie recently joined the company as President. He brings more than 15 years of enterprise software development and enterprise IT consulting experience with recent executive experience at Hewlett Packard/Mercury Interactive and IBM/Rational. Also recently joining the executive team is Jonathan Weeks as VP of Engineering.
illumita further announced, Brad Silverberg and Sunny Gupta are joining illumita’s Board of Directors. Brad Silverberg is a founding partner at Ignition and former senior executive at Microsoft. Sunny Gupta is an experienced enterprise software executive who has been an executive at Opsware, Mercury Interactive and Rational as well as founder and CEO of iConclude.
“The time has definitely come for broader use of virtualization,” says Matt McIlwain, Managing Director at Madrona Venture Group. “The combination of an impressive team of technology and industry leaders in virtualization and strong customer validation for virtual services positions illumita for market leadership. Madrona has had substantial success working with several of the illumita team members in the past and we look forward to helping them build another great company.”
“Virtualization is the next great wave of technology, and it’s happening now,” adds computer industry pioneer and Ignition founding member Brad Silverberg. “illumita has developed impressive virtualization technology that is the basis for an innovative computing solution we believe will have wide impact. We are impressed with the company’s depth of talent and strategic direction and are very excited about the future of illumita.”
“It is a tremendous vote of confidence for illumita that Ignition Partners and Madrona Venture Group have come together for the first time on a Series A investment.” Brodie said. “It’s exciting to be backed by such dependable partners while working on this thrilling new development in the Enterprise IT space.”
About illumita Inc.
illumita is an emerging provider of virtualization services and solutions. The Seattle-based company was founded in 2006 with technology developed by a group of scientists in the Department of Computer Science & Engineering at the University of Washington, Brian Bershad, Hank Levy, David Richardson and Steve Gribble.
About Madrona Venture Group
Madrona is an early-stage venture capital firm focused on building leading technology companies. Started in 1995, the firm has established a national reputation of partnering with entrepreneurs, investors and advisors to create value together. The firm invests predominately in seed and Series A rounds across the information technology spectrum including software, Internet, wireless and infrastructure. Madrona currently manages over $400 million while delivering top-quartile performance and 30 positive exits including: Amazon.com, Isilon Systems, classmates.com and iConclude.
About Ignition Partners
Ignition Partners, headquartered in Bellevue, Wash., is a premier venture capital firm dedicated to helping the best entrepreneurs seize opportunity. From turning their early stage idea into a business, to hiring the right team or providing the right industry and functional insight and connections, Ignition helps companies grow their business strategically, globally, and financially to realize the best ultimate outcome. Ignition invests in emerging and future leaders in communications, internet, software, and services across business and consumer targets. Ignition brings together an unparalleled combination of domain focus, technical expertise, and global operational experience.
Ignition’s partners are proven business leaders who have built some of the world’s most successful businesses of the last two decades, including Microsoft Windows and Office, McCaw Cellular Comunications, AT&T Wireless and Starbucks. For more information on Ignition Partners, visit its website at www.ignitionpartners.com.
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Alani Kalfayan
Communiqué PR
alani@communiquepr.com
(206) 282-4923 ext. 118
Jennifer Gehrt
Communiqué PR
jennifer@communiquepr.com
(206) 282-4923, ext. 112
