In a bid to compete with Amazon Web Services, Amazon Inc.’s fast-growing cloud-computing business, Google Inc. has acquired Orbitera for a reported $100 million.
The West Hollywood company, founded in 2011, offers software to help manage billing, online marketplaces, program packaging, and lead generation for third-party cloud-based software. A Google spokeswoman declined to comment on the sale and the acquisition price was not disclosed, but TechCrunch reported the deal was valued at more than $100 million.
Cloud-based computing has become a popular way for companies to host their websites, apps, and software-as-a-service platforms. Instead of maintaining in-house servers, many firms have found it easier and more cost-effective to outsource computing to Amazon and Microsoft Corp.
Marcin Kurc, Orbitera’s chief executive, joined the company in 2014 from Amazon Web Services Marketplace, where he was head of business development. His representative referred inquiries to Google.
Cloud-hosting has become a cash cow for Amazon, generating $2.9 billion in revenue in the quarter ended June 30, a 58 percent year-over-year increase. The company’s cloud-computing business is on track to top $10 billion in sales this year.
“This is a big cloud battle. Whether you are Amazon, Microsoft, or Google, everyone is competing to provide services to the cloud,” said Mark Mullen, chief executive of Brentwood’s Double M Capital, an investor in Orbitera. “Google has been looking for an opportunity to get deeper into the enterprise side.”
Google has sought to nudge its way into cloud-computing in recent years by emphasizing support for integrating with multiple service providers. Though Orbitera’s software is often used in conjunction with Amazon Web Services and Microsoft’s Azure, Google has vowed to maintain the technology as a neutral platform.
“We recognize that both enterprise customers and (independent software vendors) want to be able to use more than one cloud provider and have a way to conduct product trials and proofs of concept before building a full production deployment,” Nan Boden, Google’s head of global technology partners, wrote in a blog post about the acquisition.
Orbitera’s software should help Google execute that strategy, said Mullen, because it helps independent developers stitch together software programs running on multiple cloud-computing platforms, distribute programs online, and handle online billing.
“(Orbitera) allows them, through one entity, to accomplish all of these things in one swoop,” he said.
The company raised $2 million in seed funding last year from Double M, Resolute Ventures, Arjun Sethi, and Hiten Shah.
