Austin McChord is a Connecticut technology entrepreneur, investor and philanthropist best known as the founder of Datto, a Norwalk-based data backup and storage company he started at age 21 in his parents’ basement.
The company grew rapidly by selling its products through managed service providers serving small and midsize businesses, eventually becoming the first Connecticut-born startup to reach a valuation of more than $1 billion.
Datto generated $180,000 in revenue in its first year and grew to about $25 million by its fifth year while employing roughly 100 people. In 2017, McChord sold the company to Vista Equity Partners for $1.5 billion and remained CEO for about a year before stepping away.
Since then, he has launched several ventures. McChord leads Outsiders Fund, a venture capital firm investing in unconventional technology startups. He also co-founded Slide, a data backup technology company, and serves as CEO of Casana, which is developing a smart toilet seat designed to monitor blood pressure and other health metrics.
Outside the tech sector, McChord and his wife, Allison, purchased the former Manresa Island power plant site in Norwalk through a nonprofit with plans to remediate the contaminated property and transform it into a public waterfront park.