Cloud database software startup Cockroach Labs lands $160 million in funding

Cockroach Labs, a New York-based software startup that develops a cloud-native SQL database, said Tuesday that it raised $160 million to accelerate its product development. The announcement follows other tech startups that have secured big funding during the coronavirus pandemic as more businesses move online at a greater pace than ever.

The round, which now gives the company a post-funding valuation of $2.16 billion, was led by Altimeter Capital, with participation from existing investors Benchmark, Bond, FirstMark, GV, Index Ventures, and Tiger Global. Altimeter Capital is one of the early investors in Snowflake, a cloud data warehouse startup that went public late last year.

Unlike Snowflake which helps companies analyze big data in the cloud, Cockroach is designed to store copies of data in multiple locations in order to deliver speedy access. Cockroach ensures real-time data in the cloud is correct across all platforms, said Cockroach chief executive Spencer Kimball.

Founded in 2015 by ex-Google employees Spencer Kimball, Peter Mattis, and Ben Darnell, Cockroach Labs is behind Cockroach DB, the cloud-native, distributed SQL database to modern cloud applications. Prior to Cockroach Labs, Kimball and Mattis were key members of the Google File System team while Darnell was a key member of the Google Reader team.

Spencer Kimball wrote the first iteration of the design database in January 2011. A month later, he began the open-source project on GitHub, allowing outside access and contributions. Its collaborations on GitHub earned it Open Source Rookie of the Year, a title awarded by Black Duck Software to open-source projects.

To date, Cockroach Labs has raised a total of $355 million in total funding. In June 2015, Cockroach Labs closed $6.25 million in first funding from Benchmark, Sequoia, Google Ventures, and FirstMark Capital.

Cockroach Labs now helps companies of all sizes to scale fast, survive anything, and thrive everywhere. CockroachDB is in use at some of the world’s largest enterprises across all industries, including Equifax, Bose, Comcast, and some of the largest companies in banking, retail, and media.

“That is the nice pie that we are going to really be trying to eat,” he said, adding that cloud businesses at big tech companies such as Amazon.com Inc, Alphabet Inc, and Microsoft Corp were also aiming for that database market.