I-drive Closes First Preps Fall Round

Intending to enable Web-based file management for a variety of users, I-drive.com raised $4.5 million in its first round of private equity financing.

Information Technology Ventures of Menlo Park, Calif., and Draper Fisher Jurvetson of Redwood City, Calif., were the lead domestic investors in the financing that closed earlier this summer. In a decision intended to provide access to international markets, Partners Group of Switzerland also participated in the round, said I-drive Vice President Rich MacAlmon

Following the round, Virginia Gurtzen of ITV took a seat on the board of directors.

MacAlmon said proceeds from the financing will cover operations through year end, but the company would likely begin raising a second round in the “tens of millions” around September.

“This round was for infrastructure and growth,” MacAlmon said. “This money will help get us going through a soft launch prior to a hard launch this fall.”

He added that the company planned to increase its staff to 60 from the current 30, as well as develop the extensive data center required for the fulfillment of I-drive’s concept.

I-drive intends to provide an Internet hard drive that permits users to manage files more quickly and more efficiently than current programs permit. This strategy serves individual users, by extending the desktop to the Internet, and corporate partners, by expanding Web presence and creating a stickier site platform through interactivity and file availability.

“I saw that we needed to turn toward the new entity that can take and transfer the file quickly because information is Web-based,” MacAlmon said.

He added that, since being founded last December, the company has proven its concept and begun establishing strategic partnerships, which will establish a steady cash flow into the company.