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§ Private Profile · Salt Lake City, UT, USA
Developer of advanced solid-state data storage systems and memory acceleration technology for enterprise data centers to improve efficiency.
Fusion-io has raised $112.0M across 3 funding rounds.
Key people at Fusion-io.
Fusion-io has raised $112.0M in total across 3 funding rounds.
Founded in 2006 by David Flynn and Rick White, Fusion-io is based in Cottonwood Heights, Utah, and develops advanced solid-state data storage systems and memory acceleration technology designed to improve data center efficiency. The enterprise storage provider served major technology customers including Apple, Facebook, and Salesforce, while notably employing Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak as its chief scientist. Before reaching a valuation of nearly one and a half billion dollars during its 2011 initial public offering, the company raised over 111 million dollars across three venture funding rounds from prominent investors like Lightspeed Venture Partners and Andreessen Horowitz. At its operational peak, the organization employed approximately 850 people and expanded its market presence by acquiring NexGen Storage for 119 million dollars in cash and stock. The enterprise storage pioneer was ultimately acquired by SanDisk in June 2014.
Key people at Fusion-io.
Fusion-io has raised $112.0M across 3 funding rounds. Most recently, it raised $45.0M Series C in April 2010.
| Date | Round | Lead Investors | Other Investors | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 1, 2010 | $45M Series C | Meritech Capital Partners | Greylock, Forest Baskett, RON Bernal, NEW Enterprise Associates, Norwest Venture Partners, Sutter Hill Ventures, Accel, Andreessen Horowitz, Dell, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Samsung, Triangle Peak Partners | Announced |
| Apr 1, 2009 | $48M Series B | Lightspeed Venture Partners | Greylock, Forest Baskett, RON Bernal, NEW Enterprise Associates, Pelion Venture Partners, Sutter Hill Ventures, Dell Technologies Capital, Sumitomo Ventures | Announced |
| Mar 1, 2008 | $19M Series A | — | Greylock, Forest Baskett, RON Bernal, NEW Enterprise Associates, Sutter Hill Ventures | Announced |
Fusion-io has raised $112.0M in total across 3 funding rounds.
Fusion-io's investors include Meritech Capital Partners, Greylock, Forest Baskett, Ron Bernal, New Enterprise Associates, Norwest Venture Partners, Sutter Hill Ventures, Accel, Andreessen Horowitz, Dell, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Samsung.
# Fusion-io: Enterprise Flash Storage Pioneer
Fusion-io was an enterprise data storage company that pioneered the use of flash memory in server-side storage systems.[1] Founded in 2005 as Canvas Technologies and rebranded as Fusion-io in 2006, the company built solid-state drive (SSD) solutions designed to accelerate data processing in enterprise datacenters by relocating active data from centralized storage to servers where it was processed.[3] The company served large-scale technology enterprises, with its customer base initially dominated by Facebook and Apple, who together accounted for approximately 50% of revenues at peak.[4]
Fusion-io's core value proposition was straightforward: dramatically improve datacenter efficiency and performance by leveraging flash memory technology at a time when this approach was novel in enterprise infrastructure. The company achieved rapid commercial success, going public in June 2011 at a valuation of approximately $2 billion—a remarkable achievement for a storage hardware startup that had only been operating for six years.[1]
Fusion-io was founded in December 2005 by David Flynn and Rick White in Nevada, initially operating under the name Canvas Technologies before relocating to Cottonwood Heights, Utah, near Salt Lake City.[1] The company's flagship product, the ioDrive, was demonstrated and announced in September 2007, marking the company's entry into the market with a differentiated hardware offering.[1]
The company's early trajectory was marked by strong institutional validation. In March 2008, Fusion-io raised $19 million in Series A funding led by New Enterprise Associates, with notable investor Michael Dell participating in the round.[1] By April 2009, the company had secured $47.5 million in Series B funding from Lightspeed Venture Partners, followed by strategic investment from hardware partner Samsung in October 2009.[1] A pivotal moment came in February 2009 when Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak joined as chief scientist, lending significant credibility to the young company.[1] By early 2009, the company was recognized as an "innovation up-and-comer" by *Business Week* and later named the second most promising IT company by *The Wall Street Journal* in March 2010.[2]
Fusion-io rode the wave of flash memory adoption in enterprise computing, a trend that fundamentally reshaped datacenter architecture in the 2010s. The company's timing was fortuitous: as data volumes exploded and enterprises demanded faster processing, traditional spinning-disk storage became a bottleneck. Fusion-io's server-side flash approach offered a compelling solution to this problem.
The company's 2011 IPO at a 41x revenue multiple reflected the market's enthusiasm for flash storage innovation and the broader belief that solid-state technology would transform enterprise infrastructure.[2] However, Fusion-io's influence on the ecosystem was ultimately constrained by its customer concentration and the rapid commoditization of flash memory technology. By 2012, when the company disclosed its heavy reliance on Facebook and Apple—both of whom signaled they would reduce future purchases—the company's growth narrative fractured.[4]
Fusion-io's story is one of early innovation followed by market consolidation. The company achieved remarkable success in establishing flash storage as a viable enterprise solution, but it could not sustain competitive advantage as the technology matured and larger players entered the market. In June 2014, SanDisk acquired Fusion-io for $1.1 billion, a significant premium over the company's depressed stock price but a far cry from its $2 billion IPO valuation.[4]
The acquisition represented a soft landing for the company and a windfall for founders David Flynn and Rick White, whose combined stake was worth over $74 million at the time of the deal.[4] Notably, both founders immediately pivoted to launch Primary Data, another storage startup that had already raised $60 million in venture funding, suggesting their entrepreneurial focus remained on solving enterprise storage challenges.[4]
Fusion-io's trajectory illustrates a critical lesson in enterprise technology: innovation and early-mover advantage matter, but they are insufficient without sustainable competitive moats. The company's legacy lies not in its longevity as an independent entity, but in its role as a catalyst for flash memory adoption in datacenters—a transformation that ultimately benefited larger, more diversified storage vendors like SanDisk.
