In 2008, we started working on a peer-to-peer cloud-alternative platform called Tonido, which eventually powered our tiny TonidoPlug computer, various white-labeled OEM HW solutions and was adopted by use by hundreds of thousands of users across the world. While adoption was great, it was difficult to grow the business in this particular market and things […]
In 2008, we started working on a peer-to-peer cloud-alternative platform called Tonido, which eventually powered our tiny TonidoPlug computer, various white-labeled OEM HW solutions and was adopted by use by hundreds of thousands of users across the world. While adoption was great, it was difficult to grow the business in this particular market and things were looking dim. However, one thing we got right from the early days was listening actively to our customers and they were telling us one thing loud and clear. They loved Tonido but wanted the power and flexibility of the platform for their business and we listened. We released the first version FileCloud in 2012 and the rest is history.
Now 7 years in, with thousands of happy enterprise customers, it is improbable and almost impossible to imagine our growth given we were bootstrapped all along growing fully only on sales revenue generated. What started as a secure and personal cloud solution for business has now grown to a robust, scalable, secure, and compliant platform that powers large manufacturing, finance, and insurance businesses as well as military and government organizational cloud content management solutions across the world.
While we could continue to build FileCloud organically using the same product-led growth, we realized that the breadth of customer problems that our product solves needs widespread market awareness and we need to bring the benefits of FileCloud’s solution to more customers quickly. If we could with almost zero marketing spend and no outbound reach win very large customers, there is a huge untapped market for a hyper-secure and compliant content management solution that is FileCloud.
That is why I am happy to announce that FileCloud has raised a $30 million Series A led by Savant Growth Fund I LP with participation from Kennet Partners and an additional $10 million growth capital facility with Avidbank.
I would also like to welcome Ray Downes as our new CEO and Peter Melerud as our new Chief Revenue Officer. Ray is not only an accomplished leader (previously CEO at Kemp and exited recently), but he also fully shares my core beliefs in providing value to customers, taking care of people, building a scalable business, and doing it all with integrity. I am happy to have him lead us to the next level.
I will step down as CEO and transition to my new role as President & CTO being responsible for technology and product strategy and execution. I will continue to serve on the board. The existing management team will continue in their current roles.
All of this wouldn’t have been possible without the hard work from the incredible people at FileCloud including the original founding team and some of my closest friends (who were crazy enough to believe in the vision), to some of the smartest, warmest, and incredibly talented people we have hired as we grew. I am extremely proud and thankful to have you all alongside this part of our sometimes arduous and oftentimes challenging journey as a bootstrapped company and the complete trust you had in me to lead you all.
To all of our customers who trusted us with your business, thank you! We have always been about serving customers and providing a best-in-breed product and best-in-class support, solutions, and service. This investment allows us to redouble our efforts to do much more and we will continue to make your satisfaction our biggest priority. I know that every company claims to be customer-centric, but our company’s DNA is based on deeply understanding customer pain and solving it elegantly.
While the bootstrapped part of our journey is over, the next part begins, and I cannot be more excited at the future growth and opportunities that lie ahead for all of us. While I am proud of the work that has been done and the problems we have solved, I firmly believe that we have only got started and there is plenty more to do.
Let’s continue to make that ‘dent’ in the universe.
Cheers!
Madhan Kanagavel
Founder
