VMware sets to make further headway into the Kubernetes ecosystem with the acquisition of Heptio-- the startup co-founded by Joe Beda and Craig McLuckie, two of the three co-creators of Kubernetes.
Financial details of the deal are not available, although PitchBook values Heptia at around $117 million, following a 2017 fundraising run worth $25m. Either way it is interesting to know the acquisition happened just 2 years after Heptio was founded, although it might not be too surprising considering the pedigree of the founders. Heptio does not mention any clients, but it did work with large businesses such as Yahoo Japan.
The acquisition is proof, as if any was needed, of the importance of open-source in the cloud-- after all, it follows the $34 billion IBM acquisition of Red Hat, one of the biggest tech purchases of all time. VMware is already quite active in the open-source scene, with senior staff engineer Tim Pepper leading development on the recently released Kubernetes 1.2 milestone.
Heptio helps enterprises in the adoption of Kubernetes, providing training, support and open-source projects for the management of Kubernetes and related container clusters. Post-acquisition its technology will be folded into Pivotal Container Service (PKS), the VMware collaboration with Google and Pivotal, to add further feature enhancements.
“The team at Heptio has been focused on Kubernetes, creating products that make it easier to manage multiple clusters across multiple clouds,” McLuckie, says. “And now we will be tapping into VMware’s cloud native resources and proven ability to execute, amplifying our impact. VMware’s interest in Heptio is a recognition that there is so much innovation happening in open source. We are jointly committed to contribute even more to the community—resources, ideas and support.”
