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§ Private Profile · Boulder, CO, USA
SolidFire is a technology company.
SolidFire develops all-flash storage systems engineered for modern data centers. Its core product offers a high-performance, scale-out architecture designed to deliver guaranteed Quality of Service (QoS) across multiple tenants. This allows enterprises and cloud service providers to consolidate diverse workloads onto a single, predictable platform, ensuring consistent performance despite fluctuating demand.
Dave Wright founded SolidFire in 2010, recognizing a critical need within the nascent cloud computing landscape for reliable, high-performance storage. His insight centered on building a platform from the ground up to eliminate performance unpredictability common in traditional arrays when dealing with mixed workloads, addressing challenges for organizations scaling their infrastructure.
SolidFire primarily serves cloud service providers and large enterprises requiring consistent, high-performance storage infrastructure. The company's vision is to empower these organizations with agile, efficient, and scalable storage solutions that form the bedrock of their next-generation data centers. This enables customers to confidently build and operate demanding application environments.
SolidFire has raised $150.0M across 5 funding rounds.
SolidFire has raised $150.0M in total across 5 funding rounds.
SolidFire was a Boulder, Colorado-based technology company that developed all-flash enterprise storage platforms, specifically targeting cloud service providers.[1][2] Its flagship product, powered by the Elements OS, prevented any single application from monopolizing array resources through innovative quality-of-service controls, establishing it as an early leader in the all-flash array market.[3] Founded in 2010, SolidFire addressed the need for scalable, high-performance storage in cloud environments, serving service providers with solutions that offered guaranteed performance and efficiency; the company achieved strong growth momentum, culminating in its acquisition by NetApp in 2016 for $870 million.[1][2]
SolidFire was founded in 2010 by Dave Wright, a serial entrepreneur with a track record in storage and gaming tech.[1] Prior to SolidFire, Wright had founded Jungle Disk, a cloud storage service acquired by Rackspace in 2008, and earlier contributed as an engineering lead at GameSpy Industries, which merged with IGN and sold to News Corp for $650 million in 2005 after he left Stanford University to join in 1998.[1] The idea for SolidFire emerged amid the rising demand for flash-based storage optimized for cloud infrastructures, where traditional arrays struggled with performance isolation; Wright served as CEO through its rapid scaling and acquisition by NetApp in 2016.[1][2]
SolidFire rode the explosive shift from spinning-disk to all-flash storage in the early 2010s, coinciding with cloud computing's boom as providers like AWS and Rackspace demanded infrastructure for virtualization and big data workloads.[2] Its timing was ideal: flash prices were dropping while enterprise needs for IOPS-intensive apps surged, forcing incumbents like NetApp to adapt; SolidFire's QoS model influenced modern storage software, prefiguring disaggregated and intent-based systems.[3] By proving all-flash viability at cloud scale, it accelerated market adoption—post-acquisition, its tech bolstered NetApp's HCI offerings—and shaped the ecosystem by validating Boulder as a storage innovation hub while inspiring competitors in performance isolation.[1]
Post-2016 acquisition, SolidFire's brand has faded as its Elements OS integrates into NetApp's portfolio, with founder Dave Wright departing in 2021 for fintech and VC roles at Ardent Ventures—signaling the technology's maturation into legacy status amid NVMe and hyperscaler custom silicon trends.[1][3] Looking ahead, SolidFire's DNA persists in NetApp's evolving HCI and cloud storage lines, but its influence will evolve through alumni like Wright driving next-gen storage startups. As AI-driven workloads demand even finer-grained resource controls, expect its QoS legacy to resurface in software-defined storage, tying back to its origins as a cloud storage pioneer that redefined enterprise flash viability.[1]
SolidFire has raised $150.0M across 5 funding rounds. Most recently, it raised $82.0M Series D in October 2014.
| Date | Round | Lead Investors | Other Investors | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 7, 2014 | $82M Series D | Greenspring Associates | Anne Maxwell, James Pallotta, Matt Maloney, Paul Hoeper, Richard Mueller III, NEW Enterprise Associates, Novak Biddle Venture Partners, Samsung Ventures, Valhalla Partners | Announced |
| Jul 1, 2013 | $31M Series C | Samsung Ventures | DFJ, Lightspeed Venture Partners, RON Bernal, NEW Enterprise Associates, Qualcomm Ventures, Novak Biddle Venture Partners, Valhalla Partners | Announced |
| Oct 1, 2011 | $25M Series B | — | Lightspeed Venture Partners, RON Bernal, NEW Enterprise Associates, Qualcomm Ventures, Samsung Ventures, David Schneider, Frank Slootman, Greg Papadopoulos, Harry Weller, Phil Bronner, Charles Curran | Announced |
| Feb 1, 2011 | $11M Series A | NEW Enterprise Associates | Lightspeed Venture Partners, RON Bernal, Qualcomm Ventures, Samsung Ventures | Announced |
| Aug 1, 2010 | $1M Series U | — | RON Bernal, Qualcomm Ventures, Samsung Ventures | Announced |
SolidFire has raised $150.0M in total across 5 funding rounds.
SolidFire's investors include Greenspring Associates, Anne Maxwell, James Pallotta, Matt Maloney, Paul Hoeper, Richard Mueller III, New Enterprise Associates, Novak Biddle Venture Partners, Samsung Ventures, Valhalla Partners, DFJ, Lightspeed Venture Partners.