Online storage startup Mozy, headquartered in Utah, has been acquired by EMC Corporation, a public storage company with a nearly $40 billion market cap. EMC paid $76 million for the company, according to two sources close to the deal.
We first covered Mozy in January 2006 as part of an overview of the current generation of online storage solutions. The company has a dead simple way for users to back up their computer hard drives online. Download their software (Mozy supports both Windows and Mac machines) and the backups occur slowly over time. If there is ever a problem, you can restore your hard drive from Mozy’s servers.
Mozy’s chief competitor is Carbonite, another company we’ve tracked over the last couple of years. Carbonite has raised $21 million in venture financing.
Mozy, by contrast, raised just $1.9 million in capital. The round, closed in May 2005, was led by Wasatch Ventures, with participation from Tim Draper and Novell co-founder Drew Major.
That’s quite an exit for Mozy – $76 million on just $1.9 million raised. It’s almost identical to StumbleUpon, which was acquired by eBay earlier this year for $75 million after raising just $1.5 million in venture capital.
Rumors circulated a year ago that Mozy was close to being acquired by Google for significantly less than this. The company eventually passed on the deal, which must have been a tough call. They clearly made the right choice in waiting.
Look for an official announcement of the Mozy acquisition in the next few weeks. Congratulations to Josh Coates, Mozy’s CEO (who refuses to comment on the deal), and the rest of the Mozy team.
