VirtenSys raises US$16m

UK VC Scottish Equity Partners (SEP) has participated in a US$16m series C funding round of Cheshire-based semiconductor business VirtenSys.

Founded in 2005, VirtenSys has developed a virtualization technology for server and storage platforms which reduces IT complexity and expenses, and delivers improvements in utilization, cost, performance, power consumption, and management.

It raised US$12m in a series A round in 2006 from SEP, Celtic House Venture Partners and GIMV. This was followed up in January 2008 with a US$12m round, with all three returning, just as they have done third time round.

Stuart Paterson, a partner at SEP, said: “With data centers rapidly adopting server virtualization in the pursuit of increased efficiency and simplified manageability, I/O has become a critical bottleneck. VirtenSys’ products solve real needs today and are unique in providing non-disruptive solutions that can be deployed immediately. Technology business researcher house Gartner estimates the I/O Virtualization switch opportunity to be worth more than US$4bn per year. The customers’ demand for the company’s products is very impressive and encompasses multiple vertical markets.”