Egnyte to use $29.5 million venture capital round to open London headquarters

File sharing business Egnyte has outlined plans to open up a major UK base in London following a funding round backed by Northgate Capital Group and other investors.

California-based Egnyte has now raised $66.7 million (£40.7 million) of venture capital funding on the back of its Series D round.

The business, which provides cloud sharing services, will be using the capital secured to go after international expansion – including a London headquarters.

Joining venture capital firm Northgate Capital Group in the transaction is Seagate Technology and CenturyLink. Existing supporters Google Ventures, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Polaris Partners are also contributing.

Egnyte’s last funding round occurred in July 2012, when it raised $16 million through a transaction led by Google Ventures.

Back then, the business said it planned to expand into the UK by the end of the year – as well as ramping up sales and marketing efforts. Ultimately that capital went towards moving into the Polish market, where the company bought software developer Bema.io. The funds now secured are solely for a European headquarters in London.

Vineet Jain, founder and CEO of Egnyte, says that the new infusion of capital makes him proud.

‘They clearly recognise the market opportunity and believe that Egnyte is strategically positioned to build on the rapid growth and success we’ve already achieved,’ he adds.

‘This new funding will help fuel our global expansion plans, which include a move to our new 30,000 square-foot US headquarters, as well as the opening of a UK office early next year.’

More on cloud-based funding rounds:

Writing for GrowthBusiness back in August, Jain explained that chasing ‘easy money’ when it comes to venture capital funds is not the best approach.

‘My belief is that you take the right amount of money at the right time. Think of it like shifting a manual gearbox: first gear takes you to a certain speed, second gear takes you to the next speed, and so on. You need to figure out the stages for your business and plan accordingly for funding. This way, you are taking funding on your terms, rather than when your bank account gets low,’ he revealed.

In the next year, Egnyte plans to double its revenues, having done so year-on-year for the last 24 months. Egnyte now facilitates file sharing for 40,000 customers such as IKEA, Tommy Hilfiger and Garda.

Northgate Capital Group managing partner Brent Jones says, ‘We were impressed by the combination of Egnyte’s consistent financial performance, growing customer momentum and enterprise ready platform so we see compelling potential in Egnyte’s market strategy.

‘Egnyte is the best strategically-positioned company to fully meet the needs of the enterprise file sharing market moving forward.’

Hunter Ruthven

Hunter Ruthven

Hunter was the Editor for GrowthBusiness.co.uk from 2012 to 2014, before moving on to Caspian Media Ltd to be Editor of Real Business.

Related Topics

Series D funding