Western Digital acquires consumer cloud backup firm Upthere
Tue 29 Aug 2017
Western Digital has acquired Upthere, a consumer cloud storage company founded in 2011.
The financial terms of the sale were not disclosed, but the acquisition looks to move Western Digital, a company known for its leadership in the physical data storage market, into the cloud storage space.
Upthere, which states that its mission is to ‘care for humankind’s information’, is a strong proponent of cloud storage. The company’s website argues that the cloud is ‘reliable, expandable, accessible, and affordable’ and can ‘mobilize massive computing power to find patterns in its oceans of data.’
The company was founded by Alex Kushnir, alongside Bertrand Serlet and Roger Bodamer. Kushnir previously worked at MongoDB and founded commercial file management solutions company Kazeon. Upthere CEO and director, Chris Bourdon, was in charge of product marketing for OS X at Apple, where he worked for more than 15 years.
Senior VP and GM of client solutions at Western Digital, Jim Welsh, said: “I’m pleased to have Upthere CEO Chris Bourdon join the team as a strategic leader.
“I am confident that, together, we will continue to innovate cloud-based services with the potential to revolutionize how consumers and businesses create, manage and keep their important data.”
Western Digital describes itself as an ‘industry-leading provider of data storage technologies and solutions.’ The company has a number of products, under different brands, for various markets, including OEMs, distributors, resellers, cloud infrastructure providers, and consumers.
Western Digital’s cloud services business will be led by Barbara Nelson, who recently joined the company from IronKey, a cloud security business where she was executive vice president and general manager.
Upthere moved out of beta stage last year, where it announced the public release of a ‘smarter way to keep, find, and share all of your files.’
It also received $77 million last year, through a single funding round, with Western Digital Capital as one of the investors.
This is not the only recent shake-up in the consumer cloud storage market, with Crashplan announcing the end of its services for consumers, instead choosing to focus on business customers.
