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§ Private Profile · New York City, NY, USA
VAST Data is a technology company.
VAST Data develops an AI Operating System, a global data platform that unifies storage, database, and compute capabilities to manage the demands of modern artificial intelligence and deep learning workloads. The system is engineered on a Distributed and Shared Everything (DASE) architecture, providing a foundational redesign for data-intensive enterprises facing exabyte-scale data growth. This platform empowers intelligent agents to store, process, and interact with data efficiently.
The company was founded in January 2016 by Renen Hallak, Jeff Denworth, Shachar Fienblit, and Alon Horev. Their collective insight stemmed from recognizing the limitations of traditional IT architectures in handling the exponential data and computational surge driven by emerging AI. The founders envisioned a complete reinvention of data infrastructure from the ground up, establishing a challenger brand centered on solutions built for the future of computing.
Data-intensive enterprises, including a significant portion of the Fortune 100 and prominent global GPU Cloud service providers, leverage VAST Data's platform. The company's overarching mission is to equip organizations with a future-proof data foundation essential for unlocking the transformative potential of artificial intelligence. VAST Data continues to evolve its platform to meet the escalating needs of the AI era, aiming to facilitate advanced agentic computing.
VAST Data has raised $343.0M across 4 funding rounds.
VAST Data has raised $343.0M in total across 4 funding rounds.
VAST Data has raised $343.0M across 4 funding rounds. Most recently, it raised $120.0M Series E in December 2023.
| Date | Round | Lead Investors | Other Investors | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 1, 2023 | $120M Series E | Fidelity Ventures | 2048 Ventures, Afore Capital, Alpaca VC, Bowery Capital, Canvas Ventures, Founder Collective, Looking Glass Capital, M13, Carmen Chang, NEW Enterprise Associates, 83North, BOND, Commonfund, Dell, Drive Capital, Goldman Sachs, Greenfield ONE, Next47, Norwest Venture Partners, NVIDIA, Tiger Global | Announced |
| May 1, 2021 | $83M Series D | John Curtius | Bain Capital Ventures, Cedar Capital Group, Dell Technologies Capital, Koch Fund, Next47, SoftBank Investment Advisers, Tamar Technology Ventures, TCV, Tribe Capital, Uncorrelated Ventures, Viola Ventures, Mike Vernal, NVIDIA | Announced |
| Apr 1, 2020 | $100M Series C | Next47 | Tribe Capital, Mike Vernal, 83North, Commonfund, Dell Technologies Capital, Goldman Sachs, Greenfield Partners, Mellanox Capital, Norwest Venture Partners | Announced |
| Feb 26, 2019 | $40M Series B | — | 83North, Dell Technologies Capital, Goldman Sachs, Norwest Venture Partners, TPG | Announced |
VAST Data has raised $343.0M in total across 4 funding rounds.
VAST Data's investors include Fidelity Ventures, 2048 Ventures, Afore Capital, Alpaca VC, Bowery Capital, Canvas Ventures, Founder Collective, Looking Glass Capital, M13, Carmen Chang, New Enterprise Associates, 83North.
# VAST Data: Redefining Enterprise Storage Architecture
VAST Data is a storage infrastructure company that builds a radically different approach to data storage by combining performance, reliability, and cost-effectiveness on a single platform[1]. Founded in early 2016, the company addresses a fundamental market inefficiency: customers have historically been forced to trade performance and reliability for lower costs[1]. VAST Data's core mission is to eliminate this tradeoff by introducing what they call "Universal storage"—a platform capable of storing all data types on a single architecture for the first time[1].
The company serves enterprises dealing with massive data growth and complex storage requirements. Rather than forcing customers to maintain separate storage tiers for different workloads, VAST Data's architecture consolidates these needs into one system, reducing operational complexity and total cost of ownership while maintaining high performance and reliability standards.
VAST Data was founded at the beginning of 2016, with the foundational concept emerging approximately six months prior[1]. The company moved remarkably quickly to market, shipping an alpha version of their product in 2017[1]. This rapid path from concept to product reflects the founders' deep understanding of storage industry pain points and their conviction that the existing market structure was fundamentally broken.
The genesis of VAST Data emerged from observing how the storage market operated: legacy solutions like tape and traditional hard drives maintained market presence primarily through low cost, despite having "reliability numbers way worse than a flash drive"[1]. This observation—that price alone was keeping inferior technologies alive—became the catalyst for building something fundamentally different. The company's early momentum and quick product-market entry suggest the founders had both technical expertise and clear market insight.
VAST Data operates within the context of exponential data growth and the increasing operational burden of managing heterogeneous storage environments. The company is positioned at the intersection of two powerful trends: the explosion of data volumes requiring storage solutions, and the industry-wide recognition that legacy storage architectures are economically and operationally unsustainable.
Their approach challenges the decades-old storage market structure where vendors have maintained distinct product lines for different use cases (performance-optimized flash, cost-optimized tape, mid-tier HDD solutions). By proposing a unified platform, VAST Data is attempting to consolidate a fragmented market and force competitors to reconsider their architectural assumptions.
VAST Data represents a fundamental challenge to how enterprises think about storage infrastructure. If their Universal storage architecture delivers on its promise—maintaining performance and reliability while reducing costs—the company could reshape a multi-billion-dollar market by eliminating the false choice between performance and affordability.
The company's success will depend on proving that unified architecture can genuinely replace specialized storage tiers across diverse workloads. As data volumes continue their exponential growth and enterprises seek to simplify infrastructure complexity, VAST Data's timing and positioning suggest they are addressing a problem that will only become more acute. Their influence on the broader ecosystem will likely manifest through forcing legacy storage vendors to defend their multi-tier strategies or risk obsolescence.