Cloud-based backup firm Code 42 lands $52.5M in VC

SMBs, consumers and enterprises increasingly are turning to the cloud for data backup, and that has moved providers of backup solutions to the forefront, as evidenced by news today that Code 42, a Minneapolis-based startup, has landed $52.5 million in funding in a round led by Accel Partners.

Code 42, whose popular CrashPlan backup service competes in the same space as DropBox, Box, Carbonite and others, provides online, offsite and onsite backup plans to consumers, SMBs and enterprise.

The company said the funding will be used to accelerate product development and expanded sales and marketing efforts.

The funding round is the first major investment from Accel Partners' recently announced Big Data Fund, which is dedicated to funding category-defining infrastructure and application companies in "Big Data." Split Rock Partners also participated.

CrashPlan launched in 2007, and Code 42 now manages and protects over 100 petabytes of data globally. The company has parlayed its consumer play into one that also addresses the needs of business. Its product lineup includes online backup solutions for the SMB, CrashPlan PRO, and private and public cloud solutions for the enterprise, CrashPlan PROe. All products offer multi-destination, cross-platform, continuous protection onsite, offsite and online.

The company said it's experienced more than 500 percent growth over the last three years, and now has 86 employees.

"The explosion of mobile devices and cloud services has created big data and security opportunity for the enterprise," said Matthew Dornquast, co-founder and CEO. "Accel has the unique ability to identify significant industry trends like ‘Big Data' and ‘The consumerization of IT' and help entrepreneurs translate those trends into category-defining global businesses. The insight and experience of our investor team will be invaluable as we scale Code 42."

The company counts Adobe, Google, Groupon, HP, Intuit, Kraft Foods, LinkedIn, NASA, National Geographic, Salesforce.com, Stanford University and The University of Texas among its largest customers.

Code 42 was self-funded and has been profitable since 2001; it has more than 4,000 customers around the world using its enterprise plan, CrashPlan PROe.

For more:
- see this release
- see this AllThingsDigital article

Related articles:
Telecoms invested $13.5B in cloud service initiatives in 2011
Alteva adds MozyPro backup to UC product offerings
Enterprise communications sector saw it all in 2011