Joyent secures $85M in venture funding to fuel global growth

Joyent (San Francisco, CA, USA) , a global provider of cloud computing software and services, has completed an $85 million funding round, with European group Weather Investment II providing the majority of the round. Weather II was advised by Accelero Capital, an investment and management group. Both Weather II and Accelero focus on telecommunication and related media and technology companies that clearly hold promise in the rapidly and profoundly changing telecom and enterprise markets worldwide.

Weather Investment II is an experienced investor and strategic shareholder in telecommunications companies. Weather II notably owns an economic interest of about 20% in Vimpelcom, the world’s sixth largest mobile telecommunications group by subscribers.

Khaled Bichara, co-CEO of Accelero Capital

“We believe that Joyent’s unique approach to cloud and systems solutions provides an edge compared to other providers,” said Khaled Bichara, co-CEO of Accelero Capital. “We are delighted to make this strategic investment in a company that is providing solutions to some of the toughest problems in cloud computing, such as cloud performance, resiliency and security, thereby unleashing the full potential of the next generation of computing.”

Accelero Capital is an investment and management group focused on telecommunication, digital media  and technology. Accelero leverages its expertise and sector know-how to identify high-growth assets with turnaround potential. 

Joyent is a global cloud computing and Independent Software Vendor providing an integrated technology suite designed for enterprises and developers. JoyentCloud.com delivers public cloud services to some of the most innovative companies in the world, including LinkedIn, Gilt Groupe and Kabam. Node.js, the open source server-side JavaScript project owned and stewarded by Joyent, provides developers and enterprises such as Microsoft with the most powerful runtime for developing data-intensive, real-time apps. Joyent is also the key contributor to and sponsor of Joyent SmartOS, an open source project dedicated to the complete, modern operating system. SmartDataCenter orchestrates Joyent’s technologies into a cohesive, reliable and distributed system that can stand up to the compute demands of the modern world. A global ecosystem of leading technology partners assists Joyent in enabling customers to leverage the performance, scalability, reliability and security inherent in the company’s cloud solutions.

Telefónica Digital, the growth arm of global telecom leader Telefónica, is also participating as a strategic investor. Cloud-based services are a key focus area for Telefónica’s new Digital unit, and Joyent’s technology expertise in this area will help Telefónica enhance its product offering.

Matthew Key, Chairman & CEO, Telefónica Digital

“This investment is further proof of our ambition in the area of cloud services and is in line with our strategy of working with leaders like Joyent, which is poised to vastly improve the way computing is carried out worldwide,” said Matthew Key, Chairman & CEO, Telefónica Digital. “Joyent’s technology fits perfectly with technologies developed in-house and our cloud services model, and enables us to provide more competitive offerings to a broader range of customer segments.”

Telefónica Digital is a global business division of Telefónica. Its mission is to seize the opportunities within the digital world and deliver new growth for Telefónica through research & development, venture capital, global partnerships and digital services such as cloud computing, mobile advertising, M2M and eHealth. Telefónica Digital will deliver these innovative products and services to Telefónica’s 300 million customers as well as leveraging the power of the internet to enter new markets. It is headquartered in London with regional centres in Silicon Valley, Sao Paolo, Spain and Tel Aviv.

Existing Joyent investors include El Dorado Ventures, Epic Ventures, Greycroft Partners, Intel Capital, and Liberty Global.Throughout 2012 Joyent will roll out a collection of seamlessly connected high performance public clouds that serve global corporations with consistent computing services on every continent.

David Young, CEO and founder of Joyent

“Having worked with customers around the world, we see the demand for consistent global services regardless of how many countries our customers are operating in,” said David Young, CEO and founder of Joyent. “This funding will enable Joyent to build out a global compute offering to assist customers in expanding consistent software, support and services to their clients.”

Source: Joyent