OpenView Backs Cloud Archiving Pioneer Sonian

Sonian Well Positioned to Take Advantage of a Potential $2.2 Billion Market

OpenView Venture Partners, an expansion-stage venture capital firm focused on providing technology companies with deep operational support, has announced that it is leading a $13.6 million Series C investment in Sonian, the pioneer in cloud-powered archiving and search. The firm’s investment will help Sonian grow its sales and marketing efforts and accelerate innovation. Scott Maxwell, OpenView’s Founder and Senior Managing Director, will also join Sonian’s board of directors.

“We are excited to work with Sonian,” said Maxwell. “It’s a dynamic company that is capitalizing on the opportunities that big data presents by offering a cost-effective, scalable e-mail archiving solution that maximizes the benefits of the cloud.”

Over the past decade, the volume of e-mails sent has grown by 500 percent. According to research by Gartner, the e-mail archiving market is expected to reach $2.2 billion by 2014 — a 20 percent annual growth rate. Gartner also predicts that cloud-based solutions will account for more than 50 percent of the market’s total size.

“It has been another great year for Sonian and we are very excited about our future as we continue to grow our channels and further enhance our operational expertise,” said Sonian CEO Jeff Dickerson. “More than 35 market-leading partners including IBM, ISI and Tech Data and thousands of customers have chosen Sonian for their cloud archiving needs. With this funding, we look forward to expanding our current customer relationships, continuing to build out our sales and marketing teams, and developing new solutions that help customers accelerate their move to the cloud.”

Sonian’s scalable, channel-ready solution for storage management, regulatory compliance, and eDiscovery has been adopted by more than 9,000 customers.

“Almost every company faces challenges regarding mailbox management, and many of them are looking for cloud-based solution like Sonian’s,” commented Maxwell. “We’re very pleased to not only add another extremely promising company to our portfolio, but also to be able to continue supporting Boston’s local economy.”

Sonian marks OpenView’s first investment in a Boston company since it was founded in 2006, and Maxwell’s first since arriving on the city’s venture capital scene more than 12 years ago. OpenView’s other Boston-based portfolio companies, Exinda, Zmags, and Intronis, were all originally founded elsewhere.

Sonian is the twentieth company to join OpenView’s current portfolio and the second to be added since the VC raised its third fund of $200 million in March. It invested in UnboundID, a leading platform provider for identity services based in Austin, Texas, later that month. Summerhill Venture Partners, and Prism VentureWorks returned as investors for Sonian’s latest round of funding.

About OpenView Venture Partners

OpenView Venture Partners (openviewpartners.com) is an expansion-stage venture capital fund based in Boston that is focused on high-growth software, Internet, and technology-enabled companies. Through its staff of seasoned operating executives, who collectively bring several decades of technology and management experience to the firm, OpenView is able to help portfolio companies quickly optimize their product, go-to-market, and organizational and operational functions. Founded in 2006, the firm invests globally and has approximately $445 million in total capital under management.

About Sonian

Sonian’s cloud-powered information archiving platform enables organizations to address eDiscovery needs, achieve regulatory compliance, and reduce IT costs. Sonian’s archiving services can be deployed in minutes, require no hardware or software, and are compatible with many email, instant messaging, and social media systems. Sonian provides the only archiving offerings in the market built from the ground up using advanced cloud computing technologies. Over 9,000 customers benefit from Sonian’s industry-leading security, performance, and usability. Boasting strong partnerships with the world’s leading technology companies, Sonian combines innovative technology with deep archiving expertise to satisfy customers of all sizes and industries. For more information, please visit www.sonian.com.