Miami-based Kubernetes innovator raises Series B and launches new features, pledging to slash cloud costs by half with AI-driven automation
By Riley Kaminer
One thing’s for certain: Running applications in the cloud isn’t getting any cheaper anytime soon. Meanwhile, legacy applications will continue to be migrated to the cloud and new (expensive) use cases will continue to emerge.
Miami-based CAST AI has a solution in the form of a platform that enables companies to optimize their cloud spending.
And now, CAST AI has got some more dry powder to accelerate their growth. Today, the startup announced that it has closed a $35 million Series B funding round led by Vintage Investment Partners, alongside continued support from existing investors Creandum and Uncorrelated Ventures. This significant investment, closely following a $20 million round in March, brings CAST AI’s total raised funds to $73 million.
Laurent Gil, co-founder and chief product officer of CAST AI, told Refresh Miami that these funds will be used to scale. “We are hiring a lot of people in Miami and globally,” he said. In the US, most of the roles on offer revolve around sales, marketing, and support. Around 20% of the company’s 120 employees are based in Miami.
“AWS, Google and Azure bills can significantly impact gross margins for businesses, leading to excessive financial stress. CAST AI has proven that this scenario can be entirely avoided by consistently slashing customers’ cloud spend,” Vintage Investment Partners’ Barrel Kfir shared in a statement.
“What is unique about CAST AI is that it has developed a robust platform that goes beyond monitoring and recommendations; it automatically optimizes customers’ cloud resources, supercharging their savings,” Kfir continued.
Building a unique offering responding to customers’ needs
Gil, who founded the company alongside CEO Yuri Frayman and CTO Lean Kuperman, reports that the company skyrocketed from zero to hundreds of customers in 18 months. Over the last two months, they have onboarded enterprise companies that include members of the Fortune 500.
CAST AI offers a solution to the ever-increasing complexity and cost of cloud operations. As businesses continue to modernize legacy applications and venture into new domains like AI, the need for efficient cloud infrastructure has become more pronounced.
CAST AI’s technology, which incorporates advanced machine learning algorithms, promises not just to monitor cloud resource utilization but to actively optimize it, claiming to reduce cloud expenditures by 50% or more.
This promise of significant cost savings is particularly relevant as companies face massive cloud operation bills, such as OpenAI’s reported $700,000 daily Azure cost. CAST AI’s approach is proactive rather than reactive, focusing on automation and continuous optimization, which they believe can also enhance performance, reliability, and productivity for DevOps and engineering teams.
Expanding platform capabilities
CAST AI is showcasing their momentum by unveiling two new platform capabilities: Automated Workload Rightsizing and PrecisionPack. These features aim to fine-tune resource utilization and scheduling within Kubernetes workloads, driving further cost-efficiency and performance optimization. (Kubernetes refers to a system that coordinates and manages the operation of different parts of a software across a cluster of computers. CAST AI automates this process, optimizing resources to reduce costs and improve performance.)
The introduction of these tools is a stride toward CAST AI’s goal of a fully automated Kubernetes experience, a vision that appears to resonate with industry experts, as evidenced by their recognition in the Gartner Cool Vendors in Cloud That Drive Business Disruption report for 2023.
Gil has made it clear that this fresh infusion of capital will accelerate the expansion of their platform’s capabilities. “This is really a 10x improvement,” he said, noting that this new iteration of the platform will enable clients to save at least an additional 50%.
Cloud providers are not shaking in their boots just yet. Rather, Gil shared that CAST AI’s clients typically still spend just as much with cloud providers. “What we do is we free up their budget so they’re not spending money on things they don’t need,” he asserted. “It’s a win-win situation.”
This product-market fit will lead to significant growth for CAST AI in the future, according to Gil. “I wouldn’t be surprised to see 3x or 4x growth in the next year.” As the global cloud market continues to evolve, with businesses seeking more cost-effective solutions, CAST AI’s growth and innovation signal a boon for businesses looking to optimize cloud costs without compromising on performance.
Gil, who has lived in Miami since 2015, continues to be excited by the growth of Miami’s tech ecosystem.
“I see it as a long-term movement,” he said. “We’ve become mainstream: people are coming here and staying here. Miami tech has become a reality.”
READ MORE IN REFRESH MIAMI:
- CAST AI captures $20M, aims for 10x growth and entrance into new cloud-related verticals
- You’re probably overspending on cloud services. This AI-powered startup can help.
- To bring cloud costs down to earth, Miami SaaS startup CAST AI raises $10M Series A round
- Hydra Host closes $10M seed round led by Founders Fund to scale resilient, secure cross-cloud infrastructure
