Datastax acquires Kesque as it gets into data streaming

Datastax, the company best known for commercializing the open-source Apache Cassandra database, is moving beyond databases. As the company announced today, it has acquired Kesque, a cloud messaging service. The Kesque team built its service on top of the Apache Pulsar messaging and streaming projec

DriveNets nabs $208M at a $1B+ valuation for its cloud-based alternative to network routers

People and businesses are relying on the internet to get things done more than ever before, an opportunity but also an infrastructure headache for service providers that need to scale quickly and reliably to meet that demand. Today, a startup that has built a clever, software-based way for them to

How Atlanta’s Calendly turned a scheduling nightmare into a $3B startup

One big theme in tech right now is the rise of services to help us keep working through lockdowns, office closures, and other Covid-19 restrictions. The “future of work” — cloud services, communications, productivity apps — has become “the way we work now.” And companies that have ident

SetSail nabs $26M Series A to rethink sales compensation

SetSail wants to upend the way sales people get compensated by paying them throughout the sales cycle, rather than a single commission after the sale closes. Today, the startup announced a $26 million Series A. Insight Partners led the round with participation from existing investors Wing Venture C

Vectorized announces $15.5M investment to build simpler streaming data tool

Streaming data is not new. Kafka has existed as an open source tool for a decade. Vectorized was founded on the premise that the existing tools were too complex and not designed for today’s streaming requirements. Today the company released its first product, Redpanda, an open source tool des

Jam collaborative software launches Jam Genies to give small startups access to experts

As the world moves towards remote work, the collaborative tools market continues to expand. Jam, a platform for editing and improving your company’s website, is adding to the trend by introducing a new arm to its product today called Jam Genies. Jam Genies is a network of highly experienced p

Run:AI raises $30M Series B for its AI compute platform

Run:AI, a Tel Aviv-based company that helps businesses orchestrate and optimize their AI compute infrastructure, today announced that it has raised a $30 million Series B round. The new round was led by Insight Partners, with participation from existing investors TLV Partners and S Capital. This br

Bloomreach raises $150M on $900M valuation and acquires Exponea

Bloomreach, an API company that helps eCommerce customers with search and web site creation, announced a $150 million investment today from Sixth Street Growth. Today’s funding values the company at $900 million. At the same time, the company announced it has acquired Exponea, a startup that

Qualtrics raises IPO pricing ahead of debut

This morning, Qualtrics, a software company that tracks customer and employee sentiment, filed a new S-1 document. The new filing raises Qualtrics’ expected IPO price range, providing the Utah-based unicorn with a higher potential valuation in its impending debut. Qualtrics previously sold to

Drupal’s journey from dorm-room project to billion-dollar exit

Twenty years ago Drupal and Acquia founder Dries Buytaert was a college student at the University of Antwerp. He wanted to put his burgeoning programming skills to work by building a communications tool for his dorm. That simple idea evolved over time into the open-source Drupal web content managem

IBM transformation struggles continue with cloud and AI revenue down 4.5%

A couple of months ago at CNBC's Transform conference, IBM CEO Arvind Krishna painted a picture of a company in the midst of a transformation. He said that he wanted to take advantage of IBM's $34 billion 2018 Red Hat acquisition to help customers manage a growing hybrid cloud world, while

South African startup Aerobotics raises $17M to scale its AI-for-agriculture platform

As the global agricultural industry stretches to meet expected population growth and food demand, and food security becomes more of a pressing issue with global warming, a startup out of South Africa is using artificial intelligence to help farmers manage their farms, trees and fruits. Aerobotics,

Cloud infrastructure startup CloudNatix gets $4.5 million seed round led by DNX Ventures

"attachment_2098756" aria-describedby="" style="width: 1024px">CloudNatix founder and chief executive officer Rohit Seth. Image Credits: CloudNatix CloudNatix, a startup that provides infrastructure for businesses with multiple cloud and on-premise operations, announced it has raised $4.5 million in

Soci raises $80M for its localized marketing platform

Soci, a startup focused on what it calls “localized marketing,” is announcing that it has raised $80 million in Series D funding. National and global companies like Ace Hardware, Anytime Fitness, The Hertz Corporation and Nekter Juice Bar use Soci (pronounced soh-shee) to coordinate ind