Published on the 25/05/2016 | Written by Beverley Head
While the founders of Instacluster live on opposite sides of the Pacific, the “born-global” big data specialist still calls Canberra home …
Instaclustr sells managed services that leverage Apache Cassandra. Offered as a cloud managed service out of either the Amazon, Microsoft Azure or IBM SoftLayer cloud, Instaclustr effectively allows clients to outsource data management – leaving the end user to decide how to interrogate and use the data.
Apache Cassandra is an open source database management platform designed for deployment with big data collections.
According to the company’s Silicon Valley based CEO Peter Nichol, demand for the platform is growing rapidly. Founded in 2013 it claims 100 customers internationally including a handful in Australia where organisations such as Campaign Monitor and Math Pathway are using the system.
He said that three significant trends were underpinning demand; a move to the cloud, acceptance of open source technologies to avoid being locked into expensive proprietary software, and the growing maturity of noSQL style databases.
Providing access to Apache Cassandra as a managed service sped up the rate at which enterprises could leverage big data collections, said Nichol.
“You can develop expertise in house – but it’s very expensive and could take a year to build up people with expertise, or come to us and outsource the data management.” He claimed companies could deploy a solution in weeks rather than months as a result.
The company’s revenues are measured in “single digit millions” with break-even slated for 18 months hence. Nichol claims growth rates of 250-300 per cent which is the story he will be taking to investors as the company is seeking an injection of around $6 million to fund future development and growth.
Privately held and owned by a combination of founders, ANU Connect Ventures, and a series of Sydney angel investors, the company raised $2 million last November through Monash Private Capital, led by Geoff Levy and David Shein.
While Nichols hasn’t ruled out an IPO, the company still seems a relative minnow at least for investors given his market valuation for the company being around the $20 million mark.
Nichol and the company’s co-founder and CTO Ben Bromhead, are based in the US. But 20 of the company’s 25 staff – including co founder Adam Zegelin – are based in Canberra which will remain the company’s “centre of gravity” according to Nichol.
