Cloud Startup Zimory Adds CEO and 4 Million Euro in Funding

Zimory announced today it has secured 4 Million Euro in funding and added a new CEO to deliver secure, scalable, accessible, end-to-end global solutions for private, public and database cloud.

The funding round was led by Creathor Venture, High-Tech Gruenderfonds and VC Fonds Technologie Berlin, managed by IBB Beteiligungsgesellschaft, T-Venture and KFW, to support the growth path the company is taking. 
Ruediger Baumann has been appointed as the new CEO of Zimory to drive sustainable, long term business growth.

“Baumann is the perfect complement to the technical expertise we have at Zimory and joins the company at the right moment to help Zimory expand its sales and marketing efforts,” said Maximilian Ahrens, CPO & Founder, Zimory.

“I am very excited by this new opportunity and glad to serve this innovative company,” said Baumann.. “With our next software release supporting “database in the cloud,” Zimory will offer an end-to-end software system for every enterprise customer and service provider in the world, which will deliver huge cost savings for users.”

Baumann’s experience spans more than 30 years in the IT and telecommunication market and has served in various management positions in many large enterprises and startup companies.

Key Facts:

• Ruediger Baumann heads up a strong management team, to equip Zimory for international growth, which includes the CTO; Gustavo Alonso and the CPO; Ahrens.
• Zimory enables ‘Carrier Grade Cloud Computing’. A secure, scalable, accessible, end-to-end global service, offering private, public and database cloud anytime, anywhere.
• Zimory`s Cloud Manager enables service providers to deliver high quality cloud computing services on demand to Enterprise customers. Its flexible design provides operational security and the ability to support any kind of cloud computing constellation.

Additional Quotes:

According to Christian Stein, Investment Manager, Creathor Venture;
“We are very excited to invest in Zimory as the European player in the promising cloud computing software market. Zimory shows tremendous potential, especially with respect to its database virtualization technology which will put it well ahead of its competitors.”

According to Clemens Kabel, Senior Investment Manager, IBB Beteiligungsgesellschaft;
“Our investment in Zimory reflects our research about the Cloud Computing market. The hype of the past years now turns into business and the world wide cloud market will grow faster in the next years than for any other technology driven software solution.”

According to Dr. Hagen Hultzsch, Chairman of the Zimory´s board (and Ex Member of  Deutsche Telekom´s management board 1993 – 2001):
“We are glad, that we closed this funding round for Zimory which will support the strong growth path the company currently is taking. Zimory’s “Cloud Computing Manager” is already offering enormous cost savings to enterprise customers and cloud computing service providers. The next release, which includes ‘database in the cloud’, will underline Zimory’s market leading position. We are expecting huge growth for the company.”

About IBB Beteiligungsgesellschaft GmbH:
IBB Beteiligungsgesellschaft (www.ibb-bet.de) provides equity financing to innovative Berlin-based companies. The firm is the regional market leader in venture capital in Berlin. IBB Beteiligungsgesellschaft was founded in 1997 as a fully owned subsidiary of Investitionsbank Berlin (IBB). The funds provided are to be used for the development and launch of innovative products and services or creative business concepts. IBB Beteiligungsgesellschaft manages the „VC Fonds Technologie Berlin“ fund (€ 52m) and the „VC Fonds Kreativwirtschaft Berlin“ fund (€ 30m). Both funds were started as joint initiatives of IBB and the State of Berlin. They are cofinanced by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). The track record of IBB Beteiligungsgesellschaft includes successful IPOs and a large number of trade sales to strategic partners.

About Creathor Venture
CREATHOR VENTURE invests in technology-oriented companies and entrepreneurs in the areas of IT, telecommunication, new media, new materials, electronics, nanotechnology, clean tech, and life science. With 25 years of experience in venture capital, acting as lead investor for more than 200 companies and participating in over 20 IPOs, we provide not only capital but also industry knowledge, expertise at building companies, and the network to develop a sustainable business model with a globally competitive advantage. www.creathor.de

About T–Venture:
T-Venture Holding GmbH is one of the most important corporate venture capital companies in the world. Founded in 1997 as a wholly owned subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom AG, it has since then invested in young companies that demonstrate economic and technological synergies with the Deutsche Telekom business units as well as above-average growth potential. Its head office is in Bonn. It is supported and complemented in its activities by T-Venture of America, Inc. in Foster City, Silicon Valley, and in Seattle. Investment activities focus on Europe, the United States and Asia. T-Venture currently manages the T-Mobile Venture Fund, the Connected Life and Work Fund, the T-Home Venture Fund, the T-Systems Venture Fund and the T-Corporate Venture Fund. Further information is available at: www.t-venture.de.

About KfW:
KfW group gives impetus to economic, social and ecological development worldwide. As a promotional bank under the ownership of the German federal government and the Länder (federal states), it offers support to small and medium-sized enterprises, environmental protection, housing, infrastructure, it provides project and export finance, and provides soft loans and grants as part of Germany’s development cooperation. www.kfw.de

About High-Tech Gründerfonds
High-Tech Gründerfonds invests venture capital into young, high-potential technology companies that convert promising research results into successful businesses. The seed financing provided aims to enable start-ups to take their R&D propositions to the development of a prototype, proof of concept and possibly market launch. High-Tech Gründerfonds initially invests an amount of EUR 500,000 and can invest up to a combined total of two million Euros per company in subsequent financing rounds. Investors in this public/private partnership are the German Federal Ministry for Business and Technology (BMWi), the KfW Banking Group as well as the six industrial companies BASF, Deutsche Telekom, Siemens, Robert Bosch, Daimler and Carl Zeiss. High-Tech Gründerfonds has approximately 272 million Euro under management. www.high-tech-gruenderfonds.de.

Contact:
High-Tech Gründerfonds Management GmbH
Holger Heinen
Ludwig-Erhard-Allee 2
53175 Bonn
Phone: +49 228 96568500
Fax: +49 228 96568550
h.heinen@high-tech-gruenderfonds.de
www.high-tech-gruenderfonds.de