CloudSwitch and EqualLogic vets pocket $12 million for stealthy new startup, ClearSky Data

By Scott Kirsner, Globe Columnist

Serial entrepreneur Paula Long played the role of the fairy godmother in the story of ClearSky Data, a quiet new startup currently operating out of the Kendall Square offices of Highland Capital Partners...

Long, a founder of DataGravity and EqualLogic, introduced ClearSky's two founders, Ellen Rubin and Lazarus Vekiarides, last year. Rubin had previously been a founder of CloudSwitch (acquired by Verizon) and Vekiarides was an early team member at EqualLogic (acquired by Dell for $1.4 billion as it was preparing to go public.) Long also introduced the duo to investors at Highland and General Catalyst, who decided late last year to put $12 million into their new venture.

What is ClearSky up to? There's no website yet, and Rubin didn't want to get specific. "We're solving an enterprise infrastructure problem for medium and large enterprises," she said. "It's something that leverages both of our backgrounds in a really exciting way." The funding round came together just before the holidays.

The team is still in the single digits in terms of employees, Rubin says, adding that "we're looking to hire a large number of people this quarter, with experience in areas like storage, security, virtualization, and networking." Rubin says the company is looking at office space near Government Center and South Station. (Vekiarides and Rubin are pictured at right, in Highland's offices.)

Joining the company's board are David Orfao from General Catalyst and Sean Dalton from Highland. Long is also on the board, and former EqualLogic CEO Don Bulens is an advisor to the company. Jit Saxena, Rubin's old boss at Netezza and investor in CloudSwitch, is also taking a board seat at ClearSky.