In-Memory Big Data Processing Firm GridGain Raises $10M

Pedro Hernandez

Updated · Jul 30, 2013

The market for in-memory Big Data solutions continues to heat up.

GridGain, a Foster City, Calif.-based in-memory software company, is targeting the burgeoning market for Big Data processing and analytics products by developing software that leverages the computational power of servers packed with massive amounts of system memory. The aim is to make short work of Big Data workloads and usher organizations into an era of real-time business decision making.

Its products have attracted VCs looking to invest in Big Data technologies. GridGain announced that it has raised $10 million to advance its technology and boost its sales and marketing efforts. The round was led by Almaz Capital and backed by existing investor RTP Ventures, the American arm of Russia’s ru-Net Holdings.

GridGain specializes in providing scalable software that supports in-memory high-performance computing (HPC), databases, and streaming and complex event processing. Its in-memory computing stack blends in-memory and grid computing innovations to scale to thousands of servers and handle terabytes of data. It is compatible with major Big Data platforms and software components, via Hadoop and MongoDB accelerators, with “zero code changes and minimal configuration changes,” boasts the company.

Finally, GridGain deployments are managed and monitored by the company’s Visor console. GridGain Visor provides a configuration and reporting dashboard that displays performance and operations statistics over the platform’s various components. Views include a high-level database view, cache, SQL, compute and file manager, to name a few.

GridGain’s software has attracted a number of high-profile tech companies along with some big brands. Customers include Apple, Cisco, Sony and Canon. It has inked partnerships with HP and IBM as well.

“GridGain is addressing a real need in a rapidly growing Big Data market. Due to this market growth, the company is making tremendous traction,” commented Almaz Capital managing partner Geoff Baehr in company remarks.

GridGain CEO Nikita Ivanov added that the funds “will enable us to aggressively invest in our products and go-to-market strategies” and represent the bullish sentiment that’s shared by GridGain’s investors.

GridGain faces some stiff competition in the in-memory Big Data market.

Industry giants including SAP and Oracle have been pushing their respective in-memory platforms to bigger, cloudier heights. In May, SAP floated its HANA Enterprise Cloud offering. That same month, Oracle courted JD Edwards shops by announcing two new EnterpriseOne apps, In-Memory Project Portfolio Management and Sales Advisor.

Smaller players include Platfora, which launched its namesake in-memory business intelligence (BI) platform earlier this year. In March, San Francisco-based Anaplan announced that it had raised $30 million to grow its cloud-based, in-memory platform, which turns average workers into “citizen developers,” boasts the company.

Pedro Hernandez is a contributing editor at Enterprise Apps Today and InternetNews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ecoINSITE.

Pedro Hernandez
Pedro Hernandez

Pedro Hernandez contributes to Enterprise Apps Today, and 11Press, the technology network. He was previously the managing editor of Internet.com, an IT-related website network. He has expertise in Smart Tech, CRM, and Mobile Tech, Helping Banks and Fintechs, Telcos and Automotive OEMs, and Healthcare and Identity Service Providers to Protect Mobile Apps.

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