Wellington Cloud Computing Company and MOVAC Fund 2 Investee GreenButton has been acquired by Microsoft. The terms of the deal are confidential but suffice to say that it’s a great result for the founder, investors, and New Zealand Government. GreenButton is a great Wellington story. It was founded by Scott Houston who helped establish the super computer platform for Weta Studio’s used in the production of Lord of the Rings. At the end of the production he had over a thousand spare CPU’s lying idle and set about to create a software platform that would enable such capacity to be leased, on-demand. This was before The Cloud as we know it today existed.
We tracked Scott and team for two or three years before we first invested in 2010. By then Scott had the service up and running, he had a great CTO in Dave Fellows, Marcel van den Assum had joined the Board as Chair, and an office had been established in San Jose. The Board was subsequently rounded out with significant Silicon Valley tech experience who collectively had a substantial role in guiding GreenButton’s US market entry. The early decision to focus market entry in the US we think is one of the key reasons for its success today.
The GreenButton story is one of relentless determination, guts in the face of adversity, sweat, tears, significant time away from friends and family and hard work. Our congratulations and gratitude go to Scott Houston, Dave Fellows, Marcel van den Assum and the rest of the dedicated GreenButton team on getting to this point.
Microsoft Press Release follows
Microsoft Azure Strengthens ‘Big Compute’ Muscle with Acquisition of Kiwi Start-Up GreenButton
Microsoft Corporation today announced that it has acquired GreenButton, a successful New Zealand software start-up that specialises in high performance cloud computing. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
For Microsoft, the acquisition will further bolster Microsoft Azure, Microsoft’s public cloud offering, underscoring the company’s commitment to Big Compute in the cloud. GreenButton’s advanced technology solutions are used to running compute intensive applications in the cloud. Some of its largest customers include US-based companies Pixar, NASA and Boeing.
“Data and computation are driving businesses today—but as data volume, variety and velocity continue to explode, our customers need help processing massive amounts of information and running compute-intensive simulations for a growing number of applications,”
says Mike Neil, Director of Program Management for Microsoft Azure.
“This need is met by Big Compute, and that is why today we are excited to be welcoming GreenButton into the Azure family. With GreenButton’s tools integrated into Microsoft Azure, we will provide solutions that allow anyone to harness the power of the cloud.”
In addition to integrating GreenButton’s intellectual property into the Azure platform, Microsoft will retain and invest in the team and infrastructure, which will remain in New Zealand after the acquisition.
“At Microsoft, we invest in growing tech talent in New Zealand from education through to entrepreneurs through a wide range of programs,”
says Paul Muckleston, Managing Director of Microsoft New Zealand.
“This includes our BizSpark program, which more than 700 New Zealand based companies have benefitted from since its inception, including GreenButton. This is a clear indication that New Zealand is producing world-class, scalable technology solutions.”
Founder and CEO of GreenButton Scott Houston, says Microsoft’s purchase is great news for the GreenButton team, their investors and other New Zealand companies.
“We have enjoyed an incredibly supportive relationship with Microsoft for many years, from their support through BizSpark, to being one of their global technology award winners, This purchase is a real shot in the arm for other New Zealand companies. It shows that if you take your ideas to the world stage, Fortune 500 companies like Microsoft might just notice. It happened to us, so it’s entirely possible it could happen for other Kiwi start-ups.”
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential. Microsoft has been in New Zealand for 24 years and has had 700 Kiwi start-ups participate in its Biz Spark programme. Microsoft’s BizSpark is a programme which supports start-ups with free software, support and visibility for three years.
About GreenButton
GreenButton is the leading provider of cloud solutions for compute-intensive application, taking an innovative approach to enabling businesses to optimize their applications in the cloud. Its flagship product, GreenButton Cloud Fabric, is suited to Enterprises and Software Vendors for accessing unlimited computing power. Using the GreenButton SDK, applications can be cloud-enabled in hours with no recoding of existing software typically required. It enables Software Vendors to manage their licenses and monetize the cloud.
