A BELFAST technology company which offers a cloud-based software supply chain management platform has secured $11 million (around £8.8 million) in Series A2 financing.
Cloudsmith, founded in 2016 by Alan Carson and Lee Skillen, will use the funds to scale up operations to serve a growing global client base, including leading software companies such as Shopify, PagerDuty, Font Awesome, HP and EnterpriseDB.
Its enviable client roster also includes household names such as the Financial Times, Bloomberg and Vinted.
The funding, led by MMC Ventures, will bolster Cloudsmith’s ability to deliver the world’s most powerful software supply chain platform.
Cloudsmith gives organisations a single, reliable source for managing all their software assets, including datasets required to build the AI products of the future.
The latest funding follows the recent appointment of new chief executive Glenn Weinstein, a seasoned industry executive with a strong track record in growing start-ups and leading cloud companies, who was brought in to accelerate Cloudsmith’s growth.
He has joined the company from Twilio, where he was part of the leadership team that grew the firm from $800 million to $4.5 billion in annual revenue.
He said: “Despite economic headwinds and a slow VC funding market, this announcement reaffirms the confidence our investors have in Cloudsmith.
“We’ve been successfully disrupting and reinventing the software supply chain market.”
He aded: “This fresh infusion of capital also comes as industry demand for secure and reliable software supply chain solutions is surging.
“Cyber security attacks of increasing severity have become more frequent, and threaten reputational damage, data exfiltration and IP theft.”
In 2021 Cloudsmith secured €15 million (£11m) in Series A funding in a landmark deal for the city's burgeoning tech hub.
It was led by Silicon Valley venture capital firm Tiger Global, also included Shasta, Amaranthine, Sorenson and Leadout Capital.
Existing backers at the time, Frontline, MMC and Techstart also followed on, as did angel investors including Sarah Friar, the Co Tyrone-born chief executive of Nextdoor.
Cloudsmith’s cloud-native software supply chain management platform is designed to meet the needs of software teams building for internal use or distributing software packages to the market.
It provides a comprehensive suite of artefact storage, management, and distribution solutions, allowing developers and companies to streamline and control their software supply chain, improve collaboration and accelerate product delivery.
Mr Weinstein added: “This funding will be used to enhance Cloudsmith’s unique cloud-native software supply chain solution, which is faster, more secure, and of higher value than the legacy on-premises vendors we’re displacing.”
Highlighting the inherently global nature of software development and the company’s client base, he said: “Cloudsmith is a great choice for companies with software teams distributed in remote locations, and whilst the US is our largest market, we continue to see increased demand from a range of countries including the UK, Germany and Australia.”
On Cloudsmith’s rise as a leading Europe-based software company, the new CEO emphasised the strategic importance of its Belfast headquarters which benefits from unique access to both UK and EU markets.
“Belfast is a leading tech hub with a thriving digital economy. We see this renewed round of investment as a doubling down on Cloudsmith’s commitment to this vibrant city,” he said.
In recent months Cloudsmith - which now has a staff of more than 30 and growing - has become an active member of the Software Alliance, the voice of the north’s £1.7 billion software industry.
Currently acting on behalf of around a quarter of the total software workforce locally, the alliance exists to represent the sector’s interests and support policy development to see Northern Ireland become a world leading region for innovative software businesses.
