Sterling, Va.-based startup ParkMyCloud has closed a $1.65 million seed round to scale up and expand its cloud computing software toolkit. The company's software lowers the cost of using Amazon Web Services by letting users set up automatic scheduling. They then only pay for the time they are actually using cloud computing servers, the way your computer goes to sleep to save energy when idle.
"The biggest non-labor cost for [companies that use cloud computing] is Amazon," ParkMyCloud CEO Jay Chapel told DC Inno in an interview. "AWS is cheap to get started with, but the costs add up."
The issue is that so much server time is idle, yet still costs money even when unused. What Chapel's software does is pause the server, "parking" them when they aren't needed. Chapel said that can lower costs by up to 60 percent, a huge savings in the context of the billions of dollars that big companies spend on cloud servers every year. ParkMyCloud has already saved its clients, including McDonald's almost $800,000 all told, and that's with a minuscule fraction of the million AWS customers. Putting the round together took some time though.
"We had a lot of interest, but had trouble finding a lead investor," Chapel said. "We connected with Cofounders Capital after doing a presentation in Raleigh and it was a great fit."
The next step for ParkMyCloud is to look beyond AWS to other cloud services like Google Compute Engine and Microsoft Azure, opening up a chance to sign new clients. And there's not a lot of competition out there, at least so far, according to Chapel. But, the seed funding, and a potential future round, will help keep them ahead of the curve, according to Chapel.
"We actually reduce your bill, the others are more about analytics usually," Chapel said. "There are a few other players but we're the market and thought leaders in this space."
