If there's one thing that gets the attention of investors, even in uncertain times like these, it's data efficiency. Data is the fuel for machine learning models, and getting it from point A to point B can be expensive and time-consuming. That's why a startup that can help make that process move faster and with less friction is probably going to be valuable. Such is the case with Weka, a company that has come up with a way to virtualize data to make it easier to move between sources without having to make a copy first. Today, the company announced a $135 million Series D investment on a $750 million valuation, big numbers in today's conservative funding environment.

No matter the domain, data-intensive apps share one requirement in common: a reliable file system that ensures data is available to them on demand. Pure Storage, NetApp, VAST Data, IBM Spectrum Scale, and Dell EMC provide this, as does San Jose, California-based company WekaIO. WekaIO's high-velocity Matrix platform takes advantage of flash storage, off-the-shelf components, and sophisticated software techniques to deliver enormous speedups at exabyte scale. In fact, the company claims Matrix is the fastest parallel file system on the market for AI and technical compute workloads, as measured by independent SPEC SFS 2014 benchmark tests. To lay the groundwork for future growth in AI and analytics, life sciences, manufacturing, media and entertainment, and financial services, WekaIO has closed a $31.7 million series C financing round led by Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), with participation from a host of storage and computing industry giants including Mellanox, Nvidia, Seagate, Western Digital Capital, and Qualcomm.

WekaIO CEO Liran Zvibel has a two-pronged plan for launching the parallel-file-system startup to success: He intends... You forgot to provide an Email Address. This email address doesn't appear to be valid. This email address is already registered. You have exceeded the maximum character limit.