i/o Raises $105 Million to Boost Global Expansion

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The i/o Anywhere modular data center is the focal point of growth strategy for i/o, which today announced that it has raised another $105 million in growth capital.

Data center service provider i/o has raised $105 million of growth capital to help the company fund production of its modular data centers and expand into new geographic markets, the company said today. The funding was led by existing investor Sterling Partners and included new investors managed by J.P. Morgan Asset Management and members of the i/o management team.

"This new round of capital allows i/o to accelerate our Data Center as a Service (DCaaS)  delivery plans in North America and to fund expansion plans in Europe and Asia," said George D. Slessman, CEO of i/o. "In addition, we will use the proceeds of this financing to fulfill orders for our i/o Anywhere modular data center technology from enterprise customers across the globe."

With its international plans,  i/o is significantly scaling up its expansion roadmap. The company currently operates two data centers in the Phoenix market – a 125,000 square foot site in Scottsdale and i/o Phoenix, which at 538,000 square feet is among the world’s largest data centers.

NJ Expansion, New Factory

Last month i/o announced that it is transforming a former New York Times printing plant in New Jersey into the world’s largest modular data center. The 830,000 square foot building in Edison, N.J. will become the East Coast hub for i/o, which is converting the building into a facility to house data center capacity in customized containers. in February the company opened a factory in Phoenix to build its i/o Anywhere modules, which will eventually be able to deploy up to 18 megawatts of data center capacity each month.

i/o is also reframing how it describes itself, dropping the "Data Centers" from its name and referring to the company as a "provider of digital energy technology," reflecting the growing importance of power provisioning to support IT capacity.

Continued Support from Sterling

It's a strategy that has the continued backing of Sterling Partners, one of the original backers of i/o when it launched in 2007. "We are thrilled to have the opportunity to support i/o in the next phase of its growth. i/o’s management team has a track record of success and we share the company’s vision for the industrialized, scalable data center that is achievable through i/o’s modular data center technology,” said Steven Taslitz, Chairman of Sterling Partners.

Michael MacDonald, Managing Director, Private Equity of J.P. Morgan Asset Management, added, “We believe that i/o will only continue to grow its customer base and further solidify its position in the industry as the leading provider of modular data center technologies and solutions.” Michael MacDonald, Managing Director, Private Equity of J.P. Morgan Asset Management, added,

Signal Hill Capital Group served as financial advisor to i/o in connection with this financing.