Backupify raises $4.5M to back up data

Avalon Ventures, General Catalyst, Lowercase, First Round invest in saving our social-media data

Data is invaluable, even if it's a random Tweet about your lunch that day.

And, Backupify - now flush with new cash - is hoping to ensure that you'll never lose that Tweet, to a connection made on Facebook, to a spreadsheet on Google docs to a photo on Flickr. 

Backupify Tuesday announced its raised $4.5 million in Series A funding from a variety of sources including: Avalon Ventures,  General Catalyst, Lowercase Capital and First Round Capital.  In the same announcement the startup also named Rich Levandov, General Partner of Avalon Ventures, as a member to join the company’s Board of Directors. The new funds will be used to increase storage capacity in the cloud. 

“My goal is to build Backupify into a world leading data liberation company," said Backupify Founder Rob May stated in the release. "I am excited that we now have the funding to aggressively execute on our vision of providing businesses with the tools they need to maintain independent control of their data as they migrate away from on-premise solutions to more cloud applications."

For those of you not familiar with the company, Backupify was founded in 2008 by Rob May. The service provides independent, third-party data backup system, which is compatible with social media sites like Google Apps, Facebook, Twitter and Flickr - which collectively gather millions of user-generated data - like emails, Tweets and photos - every second. Basically, the service is a cloud-based backup system for other cloud-based services. You wouldn't want to lose those old photos now would you? Err... well, maybe some of you would.

But it's not a back-up service for individuals, it's essentially an insurance policy for companies.

The site has also garnered interest from private clients who want to get ahead of the regulatory curve. Since social media compliance legislation is an issue on the horizon. While no law has currently been passed, the FTC guidelines for social media and other rumors about future legislation in the area of social media have many companies worried about properly managing their online presence. Even if no legislation is passed, these concerns are not likely to go away, since a mismanaged social media profile can cause harm to the brand.

Prior to the A round, Backupify received a seed round of $900,000 from First Round Capital, Betaworks and General Catalyst Partners. Some notable angels include Chris Sacca and Jason Calacanis.

Backupify was not available for immediate comment.