Bright Computing, the leading provider of cluster management software, today announced a $14.5 million Series B financing co-led by DFJ and DFJ Esprit with participation from Prime Ventures and existing investor ING Corporate Investments. As part of the funding round, DFJ Partner Bill Bryant, Prime Ventures Partner Alexander Ribbink, DFJ Esprit Partner Richard Marsh, and ING CISO Rob Bening will be joining Bright’s board of directors.

Founded in 2009, Bright Computing specializes in management software for clusters and clouds used in high performance computing (HPC), storage, databases, Hadoop, and OpenStack. Bright’s integrated approach makes cluster management easy for DevOps and IT operations teams, while providing powerful and complete management capabilities for mission critical workloads. Bright Cluster Manager is used at over 400 customers, including more than 20 Fortune 500 companies, leading government labs, and research institutes. The company has partnered with Dell, Cisco, Cray, HP and other technology leaders in bringing Bright Cluster Manager to their customers.

Bright Computing will use the financing to continue investing in its flagship cluster management technology, focusing especially on the emerging Hadoop and OpenStack ecosystems. The company expects to extend its channel by adding partners around the world, and providing higher levels of support to direct enterprise accounts.

“Bright Computing is bringing to the rest of us the sophistication of Google or Amazon in how they manage their compute clusters and data centers,” said Bill Bryant, DFJ Partner. “They deliver the same capabilities in automating and simplifying the management of clusters for any workload. Bright manages many of the world’s most complex environments in technology, pharmaceuticals, aerospace, government labs, universities and financial services. With support now for Hadoop and OpenStack, the company has an enormous opportunity.”

“From its European origins, Bright has established itself in the US and as the market leader in this important and rapidly growing sector,” said Richard Marsh, DFJ Esprit.

"Data analysis has become the lifeblood of modern business, but it can be complex and challenging for corporations to manage,” said Alexander Ribbink, partner at Prime Ventures. "Using Bright Cluster Manager to manage clouds, clusters and data infrastructure can turn this challenge into a strategic advantage. This round of funding will help bring that advantage to more customers around the world.”

“This financing round marks a new milestone in the already impressive track record of Bright Computing,” said Jan Willem Nieuwenhuize, director at ING Corporate Investments. “We are pleased with the exponential growth that Bright exhibited over the recent years and we expect this to continue, based on the many opportunities that Bright can develop on the basis of this financing round.”

“We’re proud and excited to have such prestigious investors join the company,” said Dr. Matthijs van Leeuwen, CEO and founder of Bright Computing. “I’m looking forward to working with our new board members, drawing on their experience as we enter the next phase of growth.”

Bright partners include Amazon, Cisco, Cray and Dell. Included among its hundreds of customers are Boeing, Intel, NASA, Roche, Sinopec, Stanford University and the Tokyo Institute of Technology.

About Bright Computing

Bright Computing is transforming the way clusters are managed in the modern data center. Founded in 2009, Bright’s award winning cluster management software lets users monitor and build clusters of any size that are easy to provision, operate, monitor, manage, and scale. Bright partners include Amazon, Cisco, Cray and Dell. Customers include Boeing, NASA, Roche, Stanford University and the Tokyo Institute of Technology. Bright’s technology is running in over 500 data centers all over the globe. Bright has been recognized as a Red Herring Top 100 company and a Deloitte Rising Star winner, and was named Bio-IT World’s “Best of Show.” For more information about Bright Computing, visit www.brightcomputing.com and follow us on Twitter (@BrightComputing).

About DFJ

DFJ is a venture capital firm that partners with extraordinary entrepreneurs who are changing the world. Since 1985, DFJ's core funds have raised $4B, which has been deployed in more than 300 portfolio companies, including AdMob, Baidu, Box, Hotmail, Skype, Solarcity, SpaceX, Tesla Motors, Tumblr, Twitter and Yammer. DFJ works with companies at seed, early and growth stages, with the goal of creating iconic and lasting businesses. Learn more at dfj.com.

About Prime Venture

Prime Ventures is a leading venture capital and growth equity firm focusing on investing in European companies in the technology and related industries. The firm has invested in companies in the Benelux countries, Germany, United Kingdom, France, Finland and Sweden. From its offices in The Netherlands and the UK the independent partnership manages over 425 million euro in committed capital.

About DFJ Esprit

DFJ Esprit is one of Europe’s most experienced venture capital investors, helping entrepreneurs build ground-breaking technology companies. In recent years, DFJ Esprit’s exits have generated more than $3 billion in combined enterprise value. Portfolio companies include Achica, Graze, Greenpeak, and TrustPilot. DFJ Esprit is the exclusive European member of the Silicon Valley-based DFJ Global Network which has 30 offices around the world, $7bn in funds under management, and portfolio companies including Baidu, Box, Skype, Space X, Tesla, Twitter, Yammer and other leading innovators.

About ING Corporate Investments

ING Corporate Investments, part of ING Bank NV, is a provider of equity and mezzanine financing to companies that have their origin in the Benelux region. ING Corporate Investments provides financial solutions for growth companies, buy-outs, (partial) exits, balance sheet optimization and a range of other opportunities. Over the past 10 years, ING Corporate Investments invested over 1.5 billion euro in equity and subordinated debt products.