Cloud Archiving Pioneer Sonian Secures $9 Million in Series B Funding

New Strategic Investors Amazon.com and Webroot Join Existing Investors Summerhill Venture Partners and Prism VentureWorks


NEEDHAM, MA--(Marketwire - January 18, 2011) - Sonian™, a pioneer in cloud-powered information archiving, today announced that it has secured $9 million in Series B funding. New strategic investors Amazon.com and Webroot join existing investors Summerhill Venture Partners and Prism VentureWorks in the round. Sonian will use the funds for continued research and development for its information archiving platform, and business expansion to meet increasing demand for its affordable, reliable, scalable and secure archiving solutions.

"By leveraging Amazon Web Services, Sonian is avoiding capital expenditure and focusing resources on product innovations and improving their time to market with those innovations," said Jeff Blackburn, Senior Vice President of Business Development for Amazon. "We're pleased to work with Sonian to offer customers of all sizes an information archiving solution that is affordable, scalable and highly reliable."

"We believe the rapid adoption of Sonian services highlights the market demand for cost-effective information archiving," said Sonian CEO Jeff Dickerson. "The addition of Amazon and Webroot as strategic investors, with the continued participation of Summerhill and Prism, further underscore the opportunities ahead of us. This additional investment will fuel the next stage of our growth as we scale our platform and partner ecosystem."

"Storing, protecting, analyzing and retrieving critical corporate communications and data has become a business imperative," said Dick Williams, Webroot President and CEO. "Previous solutions have been both too costly and too complex. Sonian has demonstrated great innovation in not only filling this gap, but in defining the future of archiving. We are excited to be working with them."

Will Kohler, General Partner at Summerhill Venture Partners, noted, "With the continual growth in the volume of email in the context of a business environment with increased regulatory requirements, Sonian has clearly tapped into a large market. With its talented management team and robust technology platform, the company is well-positioned to capitalize on this opportunity."

"The advent of cloud-based computing has provided innovative companies like Sonian with the technology infrastructure to develop highly flexible, cost-effective solutions on a scale not previously possible," said Prism Partner Matthew Engel. "This additional infusion of capital will enable Sonian to build on its success in leveraging the advances in cloud-based computing to provide customers with a secure, reliable and flexible email archiving solution."

Email archiving has become a necessity for public and private companies of all types and sizes and across all industries. Sonian Archive is a hosted email archive product that fully leverages the benefits of cloud computing infrastructure to provide a scalable, simple yet cost-effective solution for storage management, regulatory compliance and seamless eDiscovery. 

About Sonian
Sonian's cloud-powered information archiving platform enables organizations to address eDiscovery needs, achieve regulatory compliance, and reduce IT costs. Sonian's archiving services can be deployed in minutes, require no hardware or software, and are compatible with many email, instant messaging, and social media systems. Sonian provides the only archiving offerings in the market built from the ground up using advanced cloud computing technologies. Over 5000 customers benefit from Sonian's industry-leading security, performance, and usability. Boasting strong partnerships with the world's leading technology companies, Sonian combines innovative technology with deep archiving expertise to satisfy customers of all sizes and industries.

Amazon Forward-Looking Statements
This announcement contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Actual results may differ significantly from management's expectations. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that include, among others, risks related to competition, management of growth, new products, services and technologies, potential fluctuations in operating results, international expansion, outcomes of legal proceedings and claims, fulfillment center optimization, seasonality, commercial agreements, acquisitions and strategic transactions, foreign exchange rates, system interruption, inventory, government regulation and taxation, payments and fraud. More information about factors that potentially could affect Amazon.com's financial results is included in Amazon.com's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent filings.

Contact Information:

Contacts:
Jon Pilkington
Sonian Inc.
617-958-4024