Toba Capital was founded in late 2012 by software executive and venture capitalist Vinny Smith, using some of the US$850 million in funds he reportedly received from the sale of his share of Quest Software to Dell. The company name comes from the Toba Eruption, a volcanic supereruption theorized to have caused a global winter that supposedly caused a genetic bottleneck in humans. The company chose a stylized volcano for its logo.