Last week Ngnix (pronounced “engine-x”), a US-based open source web server publisher with Russian origins, announced a new $8 million strategic investment led by Telstra, a leading telecommunications provider.
“The move will bring further expertise to the company and help it continue to expand and capture a significant share of the global application delivery market,” Ngnix stated.
The company also announced the appointment of Tom Hull to its board of directors. This industry veteran is expected to “support Ngnix’s efforts to reinvent the category once again.”
Ngnix claims to power more than half of the world’s busiest sites and applications. In 2015, the company added 275 new enterprise customers and increased its revenue by 300%.
“Enterprises are turning to Ngnix Plus as the application delivery platform-of-choice based on its ability to continuously scale and innovate to meet user demand for high-performing applications. As more large enterprises adopt the cloud, containers, and microservices, Ngnix continues to attract strong interest in its commercially-supported offerings, driving a growing market opportunity in the enterprise,” the company stated.
A 12-year long Russian-Californian story
Nginx’s founder, Igor Sysoev, is a former system administrator at Rambler, a pioneer Russian web company. He initially released his server software in 2004 and has been developing his web server solution since that time. Nginx was formally incorporated as a company in August 2011. The startup, founded in Moscow, is now headquartered in San Francisco.
Ngnix’s Series A round took place in October 2011 with $3 million raised from e.ventures, Moscow-based Runa Capital, and US fund MDS Capital.
Two years later the company raised $10 million from NEA with the participation of its earlier investors.
In late 2014 the company secured another $20 million.
