
Docker has become one of the superstars of cloud. The company once known as DotCloud has morphed itself into Docker by developing a revolutionary containerization and virtualization software. We wrote about Docker’s last capital infusion, when Docker bagged a $40M investment back in September of 2014.
In this go around, Docker has upped the ante and received a $90M investment. Fortune says that a consortium of investors joined in on this round, including Insight Venture Partners, Goldman Sachs and Northern Trust. Fortune also mentions that previous investors such as Benchmark, Greylock Partners, Sequoia Capital, Trinity Ventures, and AME Cloud Ventures all participated in this round of funding as well.
Docker is a ground breaking piece of software that allows organizations to rapidly deploy code within clouds. Docker gives businesses an edge in application development by reducing the need for robust infrastructure. The biggest question for Docker is, “How do you make money off of something that’s open-source?”
Docker has a paid version in beta testing called Docker Enterprise Hub. Docker mentions that the beta has garnered the attention of developers from Fortune 100 companies. Docker believes that its paid version will likely be picked up by enterprise application developers who would want to operate Docker behind a firewall, which would further secure any apps and add peace of mind for organizations.
Docker Founder Ben Golub says, “Certainly for this year [investors] are more concerned with broad-based adoption than heavy monetization.”
Docker has used its investments to hire on developers and staff. As of now, Docker says that it has 150 employees working on the Docker project in some way, shape or form. Docker believes that as it goes more mainstream, IT and decision makers will be more inclined to start using Docker within their environments. Once “broad-based adoption” has occurred, Docker believes that it can offer up features and functionality that businesses will want to pay for.