Belfast’s Cloudsmith secures backing from Techstart Ventures

8 Feb 2019

From left: Lee Skillen, Cloudsmith; Audrey Osborne, Techstart Ventures; Peter Lorimer, Cloudsmith; and Alan Carson, Cloudsmith. Image: Cloudsmith

Cloudsmith forges a sharper edge for DevOps.

Northern Ireland software company Cloudsmith has been funded by Techstart Ventures to bring its technology to the global software development market. The value of the funding round was not disclosed.

‘The DevOps and cybersecurity culture within Northern Ireland has never been stronger than it is today’
– ALAN CARSON

SaaS player Cloudsmith has developed an accelerated provenance platform that gives software developers a control surface for security, analytics and workflow tools. This enables them to manage the software development process all the way to distribution.

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“The DevOps and cybersecurity culture within Northern Ireland has never been stronger than it is today,” said Cloudsmith CEO Alan Carson. “Having the backing of Techstart is incredibly important in terms of their expertise, contacts and leverage as we prepare for the next stage in our journey. Their belief is a vote of confidence and, we believe, a sign of the fantastic things to come.”

Lee Skillen, CTO of Cloudsmith, added: “Automated software provenance is becoming increasingly recognised as a paramount piece in the jigsaw of building software securely.

“The broad business community and beyond are only beginning to understand the deep impact that software without provenance can have. Cloudsmith’s platform offers controls and capabilities that allow high-performing companies to trust their code.”

Cloudsmith is working with some of the world’s leading developer tools and cybersecurity businesses to establish a ubiquitous and globally recognised platform to support responsive and resilient software pipelines in terms of their quality, security and compliance.

The cost of poor-quality software in 2018 to the US market alone has been calculated at $2.84trn by the Consortium for IT Software Quality. Set against the size of the problem, the cybersecurity and developer tool markets combined have been estimated to be worth in excess of $260bn by 2023.

“Cloudsmith brings together a great team with deep domain expertise [and] cutting-edge technology in a rapidly growing market,” said Audrey Osborne of Techstart Ventures.

“Their unique accelerated provenance platform and global ambitions hold the potential to create an exciting, scalable business.”

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com