Itential Secures $5.5 Million Investment from Elsewhere Partners and Adds Software Veteran Kenny Van Zant to Its Board of Directors

ATLANTA, Sept. 27, 2017 -- Itential, an emerging leader in automating Software Defined Networks (SDN), today announced that the company has received its first outside investment from Elsewhere Partners, a growth-stage venture capital firm that was recently launched by veteran software investors.  The $5.5 million in funding will be used to accelerate the development and delivery of Itential’s innovative network automation solutions for enterprises and service providers.

The funding comes on the heels of a record year of growth for Itential. The company’s Pronghorn platform is at the core of network operations for some of the largest enterprises and service providers in the world. Founded in 2014 on the premise that today’s networks need to match the agility of modern computing infrastructure, Pronghorn enables Itential’s customers to create programmable, dynamic networks that can be optimized in seconds, rather than days or weeks. With Pronghorn, configuration changes and workflow automation are driven directly by business applications and logic, exponentially accelerating the speed at which networks can be updated.

“Itential anticipated and correctly timed the shift from physical to virtualized networks and is fundamentally changing the way large networks operate,” said Chris Pacitti, Elsewhere Partners founder and partner. “The company has achieved incredible customer adoption and revenue growth in a short time, without outside funding. Elsewhere Partners is proud to lead Itential’s first round of outside investment, and our team of investors and Operating Advisors are eager to help the company’s leadership revolutionize the market for network automation.”

Seasoned software executive and Elsewhere Partners Operating Advisor Kenny Van Zant will join Itential’s Board of Directors. Elsewhere Partners Operating Advisors provide intensive, boots-on-the-ground support to portfolio companies and frequently serve as the investment firm’s board representatives.  

With more than 20 years of experience in the technology industry, Van Zant has a proven track record for scaling growth-stage companies quickly and efficiently.  He currently serves on the boards of Castlight Health, Idera, and Puppet, and is an early investor in dozens of infrastructure software companies, including Docker, PagerDuty, OneLogin, and InfluxData. Most recently, Van Zant was the Head of Business for Asana, the leading cloud-based work tracking platform, where he led sales, marketing, customer support and finance. Prior to Asana, Van Zant was the Senior Vice President, Chief Product Strategist at SolarWinds. He has also held leadership roles at Motive, BroadJump and Cisco Systems.

“It’s time for the network to be as nimble as the rest of the infrastructure stack — NetOps needs to look like DevOps. The promise of a ‘programmable network’ has been talked about for years, and I believe Itential is the first company built to actually deliver it,” said Kenny Van Zant. “It is an honor to join the board and help guide the team as the company scales to meet this massive opportunity.”

“The demand on today’s networks to move fast requires a new breed of network automation technologies and processes,” said Ian Bresnahan, president and CEO of Itential. “We are thrilled that Elsewhere Partners shares our vision and are beyond excited to welcome Kenny to our board. The collective talent and experience they add to our team is astounding, and it will be invaluable to us as we embark on the next phase of our journey.”

In related news, Itential also announced today that they have been selected by Cisco as a member of the SolutionsPlus Program.

About Itential 
Itential is a software company focused on improving the efficiency of network operations. As innovators of dynamic, multi-tiered network automation platforms, Itential delivers a model-based automation approach to its customers globally through its flagship product, Pronghorn. Itential leverages open standards, open source software, and industry best practices to deliver solutions that drive success for both service provider and enterprise environments. Itential is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. To learn more, visit www.itential.com.

About Elsewhere Partners
Elsewhere Partners is a growth-stage venture capital firm that makes seven-figure investments in Elsewhere Outliers – business software companies that are located outside of traditional venture capital hubs and have achieved substantial customer traction and revenue growth without significant outside funding. Elsewhere Partners combines transitional capital with transformational expertise to help companies achieve exit readiness on their founder’s timetable. To learn more, visit elsewhere.partners.

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Erica Camilo
Connexa Communications
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