Carbonite recently announced the completion of our Series C financing
and a major deal with Lenovo. These two announcements generated some
great press. But, there are two articles in particular that I wanted to
share with you.
In an article that appeared in Mass High Tech, Christopher Calnan reported:
“
Online backup provider Carbonite Inc. recently closed its second
bundling deal with a major personal computer manufacturer and followed
that up last week by closing a Series C round of financing.
Boston-based Carbonite closed an agreement to provide free four-month
online backup service subscriptions for the Ideapad line of desktop and
laptop computers made by Hong Kong-based Lenovo Group Ltd., CEO David
Friend said.
In June, Carbonite reached a similar agreement with Netherlands-based
Packard Bell BV for the PC maker to bundle subscriptions for purchasers
of Packard Bell desktop and notepad computers in Europe. Lenovo
officials declined to confirm the deal with Carbonite.
Although Friend would not disclose the specifics of the Series C
financing, he expects it to be enough to fuel Carbonite before it
completes an initial public offering.
"That's the next step," Friend said. "The projections show that it will
be the last cash we'll need. (Carbonite is) the type of company that
should go public."
Shortly after, Xconomy reporter, Wade Roush published an article entitled "Carbonite Puts Its Online Backup Software on Lenovo Computers, Raises $20 Million" in which he notes:
“
Last Wednesday, the Mozy division of Hopkinton, MA-based EMC (NYSE:
EMC) announced that its software will power an online backup service
available to buyers of Thinkpad SL notebook computers, the newest line
of business laptops from Lenovo. Not to be outdone, Boston-based
Carbonite is expected to announce soon that it has formed an even
broader partnership with the Chinese computer maker: All Lenovo IdeaPad
and IdeaCentre computers—the company’s lines of home and home-office
laptops and desktops, respectively—will now come with Carbonite's
online backup software pre-installed.
At the same time, Carbonite is about to announce formally that it has
closed a $20 million financing round, the third since the company's
founding in 2005. (It raised $2.5 million in Series A funding in
February, 2006, and completed a $15 million Series B round in May,
2007.)
Both of these articles attest to the fact that online backup is
becoming mainstream. At some point in the future, we hope online backup
is as common, and as top-of-mind, as anti-virus software is today.
— Alison