This article was published on July 12, 2012

Cloud cost management startup Cloudability picks up $8.7m from Foundry, 500 Startups and others


Cloud cost management startup Cloudability picks up $8.7m from Foundry, 500 Startups and others

Today Cloudability announced that it has landed a $8.7 million Series A round, led by Foundry Group, and participated in by 500 Startups, Wieden, and Trinity Ventures. Two new members of its board of directors were announced as well, including Jason Seats, the founder of SliceHost.

The cloud – computing and storage services that are provided by third-party data-centers – is increasingly popular. It provides the ability for any company to tap into an infrastructure system that they could hardly afford otherwise, at a usage price that they can. Microsoft, Amazon, Rackspace, and others are competing fiercely in the space. Among modern startups, such services are often key.

Therefore, the need to manage and track the costs of Infrastructure and Platform-as-a-Service products is not an idea, but a pressing goal for myriad firms. Cloudability wants to fulfill that role. The company’s goal, according to its official release, is to make “computing and hybrid IT models cost-effective and manageable for all companies.”

The company, launched into the market in 2011, now tracks cloud spend for some 3000 companies. Not bad for a firm that is just closing its first large round of funding.

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Cloudability charges on the freemium model, with a free service, and a paid tier. Its paid service starts at $49 a month, but scales based on total customer spend. That feels low. Given that the product will often be used to track budgets in the millions, to charge but a fifty-spot feels underpriced.

The old adage applies: charge more and people will take you more seriously.

That aside, its investor roles are more than solid. Cloudability has strong minds, and cash behind it. If anyone will tame the cost of the cloud, this company might be it.

Top Image Credit: Daniel Boyd

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