Hybrid cloud data management startup CTERA Networks Ltd. said today it’s aiming to expand its presence in the “data intelligence” business after closing on an $80 million funding round.

Today’s investment was led by PSG Equity, whose managing director Ronen Nir is joining its board of directors, alongside representatives from existing investors such as Benchmark, Bessemer Venture Partners and Red Doc Capital partners.

The company has emerged as a leading player in the cloud data management industry, and claims to set new standards for unstructured data, which is becoming vitally important to enterprises pursuing artificial intelligence projects.

Israel-based CTERA sells a cloud-based information technology-as-a-service platform for storing, syncing, sharing, protecting and governing data across cloud endpoints, remote offices and servers. Its products are based on a global file system that sits atop of cloud-based storage systems in order to provide unified access to the data within, regardless of the location its stored.

According to the company, its system allows businesses to adapt rapidly by creating customizable storage infrastructure that can deliver data to wherever it is needed by employees, enabling enhanced collaboration. Some of the benefits of its approach include local de-duplication, and the ability to consolidate file services and applications within a single gateway that synchronizes with the cloud.

Besides providing unfettered access to data, CTERA offers tools to protect and regulate that information. For instance, its CTERA Ransom Protect offering uses advanced machine learning algorithms to swiftly identify and block suspicious file activities, with administrators able to monitor attacks in real time via its integrated incident management dashboard. The startup also leverages immutable write once, read many storage to help businesses stay compliant with national and industry-specific regulations such as Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation.

The company argues that its hybrid cloud file storage platform is especially useful in terms of providing secure access to unstructured data across on-premises, edge and public cloud platforms. Unstructured data, which accounts for around 80% of the average enterprise’s information, is essential for advanced generative AI models and applications, and CTERA’s platform helps to ensure it’s always accessible to them. It says secure and timely access to corporate data is essential for tasks like AI training and retrieval-augmented generation, which is a technique used to enhance the knowledge of pre-trained generative AI models with corporate data.

“This new strategic partnership with PSG will enable us to accelerate our growth, to continue to provide top services to our customers, as well as to expand our offering into the new transformative area of AI,” said founder and Chairman Liran Eshel.

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