Capitalizing on the AI Boom: Aerospike Secures $100M for Its Real-Time Database Platform

NoSQL database Aerospike recently announced that it has raised a $100 million Series E round led by Sumeru Equity Partners. Existing investor Alsop Louie Partners also joined in this funding round.

Founded in 2009, Aerospike initially focused on the adtech industry as a key-value store. Over the years, the company has expanded its offerings, with its core focus now being a NoSQL database that excels in real-time use cases at scale.

As of 2022, Aerospike has added document support and advanced features such as graph and vector capabilities. These are crucial in building real-time AI and ML applications.

“We were founded primarily as a real-time data platform that can work with data at really high scale, or, as we call it, unlimited scale,” Aerospike CEO Subbu Iyer shared. “Real-time access to data is going to be important pretty much across every industry. Our premise has always been to deliver real-time performance, at any scale, and with the lowest total cost of ownership.”

Aerospike offers its services both as a hosted platform and for on-premises use. The company achieves its promise of real-time performance and low cost through its hybrid memory architecture. This allows for the use of RAM and fast flash storage, and any combination of the two.

Competitor Redis recently acquired Speedb to provide similar capabilities, with a focus on helping customers reduce costs.

Some of Aerospike’s notable customers include Airtel, Transunion, Snap, and TechCrunch‘s parent company, Yahoo.

Currently, the popularity of AI is driving increased interest in Aerospike’s services. As a result, the company intends to use the $100 million funding received to accelerate their innovations in this area. Specifically, they plan to focus on enhancing their graph and vector capabilities. Additionally, Aerospike plans on harnessing the synergy between these two features.

“There are some synergistic ways in which graph and vector capabilities can come together,” Iyer stated. “For instance, if you’re looking for a specific document, a vector search can help you get to that document quickly. But if you’re interested in a set of similar documents, a vector search can lead you to a graph of related documents, which offer more insights through their relationships.”

This potential for growth and innovation is what caught the attention of investors. The last funding round for Aerospike was in 2019, and according to CEO Iyer, they were not in immediate need of additional funding. However, the current market conditions provide a significant opportunity for Aerospike to capitalize on.

Sumeru co-founder and managing director George Kadifa also emphasizes the potential of this opportunity.

“AI is transforming the economy and presents new opportunities for growth and innovation,” Kadifa stated. “Aerospike, with its impressive customer base and performance advantage at scale, is uniquely positioned to become a foundational element for the next generation of real-time AI applications.”