Pertino Raises $20M to Bring Cloud Networking to SMBs

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Another player looking to redefine networking in the cloud era has raised a nice chunk of change. SDN-powered cloud networking player Pertino has raised $20 million in Series B funding. The company will use the funds to expand its platform and market strategy. The company previously raised an $8.85 million Series A round in April of 2012.

Pertino looks to bring SDN-powered wide-area networks to the masses. There is a demand for this thanks to increasing globalization and rise of cloud computing, as well as an increasingly mobile workforce. The proliferation of mobile usage and remote employees means companies are becoming more dependent on wide-area networks (WANs) and Pertino wants to bring these capabilities to small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) by cutting out the barriers of cost and complexity. Pertino has something it calls "cloud network engine" which allows the creation of a cloud-based network in minutes with no hardware, expertise, or upfront investment required. Basically, it looks to bring a previously cost-prohibitive capability to the world of SMB, hence the bringing it "to the masses."

"SMBs comprise almost half of IT spending worldwide, yet a significant number of these organizations struggle with having the resources to deploy new technology and applications," said Craig Elliott, Pertino co-founder and CEO. "By leveraging the cloud and SDN technology to radically simplify networking, Pertino is poised to unlock a massive opportunity and Jafco’s SMB and business development experience in Asia will help us realize it."

Priced for the SMB Market

The company is going after the home office or SMB here with the pricing as well. Pertino allows customers to build a free network for up to three members with three devices each, and then pay $10 per member per month as they grow.

The Series B round was led by new investor Jafco Ventures with existing investors Norwest Venture Partners and Lightspeed Venture Partners also participating. Jafco’s portfolio consists of several cloud and network security companies including Reputation.com, Huddle, FireEye, and Palo Alto Networks.

“One of the things that attracted us to Pertino is the fact they have built a cloud-based solution leveraging the most innovative and disruptive technology to hit networking in a decade – SDN, and they’re delivering it in a practical and consumable way to an underserved global market,” said Jeb Miller, general partner at Jafco. “Disruptive technology and a massive global market opportunity, coupled with the pedigree and experience of the executive team makes Pertino an ideal portfolio company for us.”

The company launched into limited availability last month and says it saw significant demand. The limited launch came after concluding a successful beta program within the Spiceworks IT community that resulted in over 250 customers deploying and testing their own Pertino cloud network. Since then, the number of deployed customers has grown to over 700.