SuperSeed led a £1m pre-seed round in Ankra, whose SaaS platform automates the configuration, deployment and management of enterprise applications running on Kubernetes, saving developer time and reducing security risks.
- Ankra was founded by Mattias Åsell (CEO), Benjamin Klingsbo (COO) and Mark Shine (CTO).
- There is a global shortage of Kubernetes specialists, and developers often spend 20% or more of their time configuring infrastructure.
- 53% of Kubernetes clusters have security issues caused by misconfiguration, which automation can largely eliminate.
- Ankra aims to cut costs on Kubernetes specialists, developer time and cloud infrastructure, by letting firms run their own open-source services.
We are excited to announce that SuperSeed has led the pre-seed round in Ankra – a SaaS company developing a powerful cloud management platform.
Ankra’s SaaS platform enables large enterprises to easily benefit fully from the scalability and flexibility of the cloud when using Kubernetes. While platforms like AWS make it easy to provision new cluster services in the cloud, it is still complex and labour-intensive to configure and manage these. Ankra solves the problem by automating infrastructure configuration, deployment and management for large, enterprise-grade applications that run on Kubernetes clusters.
When we met founders Mattias Åsell (CEO), Benjamin Klingsbo (COO) and Mark Shine (CTO), we were immediately impressed with the scale of their vision. Kubernetes is a powerful technology, but configuration, deployment and maintenance is complicated. There is a global shortage of Kubernetes specialists, and too often software developers find themselves spending 20% of their time or more just configuring infrastructure. This saps developer productivity and can create security risks in situations where clusters are incorrectly configured. Ankra can automate all of this work, abstracting away Kubernetes complexities to free up developer time.
Specific benefits include:
- Cost reduction on Kubernetes deployment and management. It enables firms to reduce or eliminate spending on costly Kubernetes (“DevOps”) specialists.
- Cost savings from developer productivity improvements. With developers losing as much as 40% of their time on infrastructure management, lost productivity is in the tens of billions.
- Cost reduction on cloud infrastructure. Amazon, Microsoft and Google today enjoy a near oligopoly in the $200bn cloud industry. Kubernetes automation enables firms to deploy and maintain their own open-source services, which commoditises the services and brings down costs.
- Cost/risk reduction from the elimination of security risks. 53% of Kubernetes clusters have security issues due to misconfiguration. These can largely be eliminated with automation. Unstable or insecure infrastructure can lead to existential problems for companies. Ankra helps address these vulnerabilities.
Mattias, Benjamin and Mark have a big vision for the future of the cloud, and we are proud to partner with them as they work to build a great cloud management company.
Frequently Asked Questions
What problem does Ankra solve?
Kubernetes is powerful but complicated to configure, deploy and maintain. Ankra automates this work for large enterprise applications, freeing developers from infrastructure management and reducing the risk of insecure, misconfigured clusters.
How can Kubernetes automation reduce cloud costs?
Amazon, Microsoft and Google hold a near oligopoly in the $200bn cloud industry. Automating Kubernetes lets companies deploy and maintain their own open-source services, which commoditises those services and brings costs down.
Who led Ankra's pre-seed round?
SuperSeed led Ankra's £1m pre-seed round.