Crate Secures $4M Seed Funding to Further Development of Distributed SQL database for Containerized Architectures

Investors in next generation SQL database are Dawn Capital, Sunstone Capital, Draper Esprit, Speedinvest, and Solomon Hykes, creator and CTO of Docker

London & Berlin (March 15, 2016) – Crate.io, developer of the distributed SQL CrateDB database for containerized architectures, today announced that it has received a $4M investment led by Dawn Capital and joined by existing investors Sunstone Capital, Draper Esprit and Speedinvest. Solomon Hykes, creator of the Docker project, also participated in the round.

Leveraging the Versatility of SQL

CrateDB is an open-source SQL database that is highly available, scalable and based on a shared-nothing masterless architecture, enabling significant performance increases over competing solutions. It offers the scalability and simplicity of NoSQL, but can be accessed through standard SQL, preserving investments in application code. Designed for ad-hoc queries and dynamic schemas, Crate is perfectly suited for the needs of hyper-growth applications in IoT, security and the web.

CrateDB is generally available, and has been downloaded more than 350,000 times in the last six months. CrateDB production clusters now process billions of daily inserts, serving real-time queries and searches on that data.

“CrateDB simplicity and masterless architecture make it a perfect match for containerized environments,” Solomon Hykes, founder and CTO of Docker. “I expect to see it widely deployed as more developers adopt the new microservices paradigm.”

Sekhar Sarukkai, Skyhigh’s Chief Scientist and co-founder said: “We’re using CrateDB in production, supporting the massive growth of our cloud-app security offering. CrateDB's real-time SQL aggregations, its simple scalability and high availability make it a key element of our stack. Its distributed SQL engine allows simple adoption in any enterprise.”

“The next logical stride after application containers is distributed database containers. The market is telling us that operational and analytics requirements are converging – people want to use one database for both needs,” said Christian Lutz, co-founder and CEO of Crate. “This and our distributed SQL engine have spurred several massive deployments of CrateDB with enterprises, and the new investment will allow us to continue our aggressive growth, add more features and support our growing community of users.”

Ari Helgason of Dawn Capital said: “At Dawn, we have a particular interest in open source businesses, and the usage growth seen by CrateDB over the past year is exceptional. The company has assembled a world-class team and we are excited about joining forces with them and supporting them as they expand their customer base around the world.”

The round will serve to grow market penetration as well as development of Crate’s core distributed SQL technology. Ari Helgason from Dawn Capital will join the board.

Supporting Resources

CrateDB is an open source, highly scalable, shared-nothing distributed SQL database. CrateDB offers the scalability and performance of a modern NoSQL database with the power of standard SQL. CrateDB is masterless and simple to install, operate and use, and is made for containerized environments, and can handle transactional and analytical needs in one single database. CrateDB has been designed from the ground up to support the huge scale of web, mobile and IoT applications.

Dawn Capital is an early stage VC firm run by entrepreneurs and investing in startups across Europe. It supports SaaS and Fintech companies that develop world leading technology to improve business value chains and productivity. Dawn Capital typically invests between £2 million - £5 million in companies that are expanding internationally and are looking for operational support and capital. Dawn Capital’s portfolio companies include Collibra, Gelato Group, iControl, Mimecast, Neo Technology, Showpad, iZettle and Property Partner, with many others looking to join their ranks.

For further information:

Crate.io

Christian Lutz, +1 415 646 6103, +43 676 5000 144 christian@crate.io

Equity Dynamics for Dawn Capital

Corinna Osborne - +44 7825 326 440 – corinna@equitydynamics.co.uk

Emily Weston – +44 7825 326 442 - emily@equitydynamics.co.uk