Pure Storage, A Startup Worth $3 Billion, Snagged A 10-Year Google Veteran To Be Its New CFO

Pure Storage, the enterprise flash storage provider valued at $3 billion, made former Google finance exec, Tim Riitters, its new CFO, Re/code reported Wednesday.

Riitters is a 10-year Google veteran who was mainly responsible for the company’s overall financial and budgeting plans. He also headed Google’s European financial operations and was CFO of its European Payments Business in the past.

“Riitters brings a wealth of experience to Pure Storage that will help us ensure we deliver on our mission to lead the industry transition from mechanical to solid-state storage,” Pure Storage CEO Scott Dietzen wrote in a blog post.

Pure Storage is one of the fastest growing enterprise data storage startups with a valuation in excess of $3 billion.

Unlike some of its larger competitors that only offer flash solutions as part of a broader offering, Pure Storage is purely focused on solid-state flash storage. Flash is a more expensive, but significantly better-performing storage option compared to the more commoditized, mechanical hard drives.

In its latest round of funding, Pure Storage raised $225 million from T. Rowe Price, Tiger Global, and Wellington Management. That puts the total amount raised at $470 million, and the company’s widely speculated to go public soon.

But when asked about its IPO plan by Re/code, Pure Storage CEO Scott Dietzen said he’s in no rush to go public.

Bringing a high-profile CFO like Riitters on board doesn’t necessarily mean Pure Storage is gearing up for an IPO. But it certainly sends out the message that it is mature enough and is ready to take the next step forward.

“When startups begin to mature and become ‘riper’ for an IPO, they typically make an effort to hire a more financially savvy executive to sort of put the house in order,” Charles King, Principal Analyst at research firm Pund-IT, told Business Insider.

“Tim Riitters’ experience at Google not only makes him a very knowledgeable person, but also somebody that’s been extremely successful at an innovative Valley company. Pure Storage was probably looking for that — for lack of a better term — ‘Valley-seal-of-approval,’” King said.

In 2013, Pure Storage expanded its network to over 200 organizations around the world, growing its year-over-year revenue 700%, which, according to Pure Storage, is the highest growth rate in storage history. 

“What Pure Storage has done is take the high-end storage, and say, ‘We’re going all-in on flash.’ And they’ve done very, very well so far,” King said.

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