“Unlocking the Potential of Kubernetes Clusters with Loft Labs’ Virtualization Innovation”

Many have considered the idea of virtualized Kubernetes clusters to be a paradox. After all, they are an abstraction of virtual machines, a concept made popular by VMware back in the early 2000s.

However, Loft Labs recognized a similar issue with resource utilization in Kubernetes clusters that VMware faced with server utilization. To address this problem, the company has developed a virtualization tool that allows for more efficient use of these clusters by sharing common underlying applications.

“We’re essentially turning many clusters into one cluster, and then have virtual clusters on top of the common applications,” explained CEO Lukas Gentele.

This approach means that instead of each cluster functioning as a separate entity, users can consolidate their clusters and create virtual ones within them. This not only saves costs, but also leads to a more consistent and efficient platform.

As Gentele shared, “You get all this consolidation of the shared platform stack that is much cheaper, much more efficient, much more consistent because you only have maybe three instances of Istios running now instead of 5,000.” The virtual clusters also offer secure isolation, ensuring that workloads and tenants remain separate from one another. Additionally, Loft Labs automates management tasks such as shutting down clusters that are not in use.

Loft Labs has also found a way to monetize its solution while leveraging the popularity of open source projects. Since launching the open source version of its product, vCluster, in 2021, it has garnered 40 million downloads and a million virtual clusters created. In turn, this created a demand for additional features, leading to the release of vCluster Pro.

Instead of simply adding enterprise features or creating a SaaS version, Loft Labs took a novel approach by developing a complementary product that assists companies with managing high volume Kubernetes cluster environments. This incentivizes larger customers to purchase the product and has proven successful for the company.

However, Loft Labs did not start with this idea. Initially, the company aimed to provide a Platform as a Service product for developers to access shared multi-tenant clusters. But after realizing the difficulty in achieving this, as well as struggling to convince enterprises to adopt the platform, the company pivoted.

“The thing that we learned was the problem of sharing Kubernetes clusters, isolating tenants in the cluster, and how hard it is,” shared Gentele during a post mortem.

This revelation led to the development of vCluster, beginning with the release of another open source project called Kiosk to test the waters. The positive response from the community, including recognition from AWS, gave the company the confidence to pursue this solution further.

Today, Loft Labs announced a $24 million Series A funding round led by Khosla Ventures, with participation from existing investors Berkeley SkyDeck Fund, Emergent Ventures, Fusion Fund, and Surface Ventures, as well as additional angel investment. This brings the company’s total funding to $28.6 million.