Chef Software is a technology company.
Chef Software has raised $106.0M across 5 funding rounds.
Key people at Chef Software.
Chef Software was founded in 2008 by Jesse Robbins (Founder, CEO, Advisor).
Chef Software has raised $106.0M in total across 5 funding rounds.
Chef Software is an IT automation company that builds tools for automating infrastructure, applications, cloud security, and compliance, enabling faster, safer, and more flexible DevOps practices.[1][2][3] It serves enterprises like Fortune 500 companies including Facebook, Ford, General Motors, and Nordstrom, solving the challenges of managing complex IT environments amid shifts from servers to cloud-native services like containers and functions.[1][4] Originally raising $105M, Chef was acquired by Progress Software for $220M in 2020, achieving strong growth with over 700 corporate customers and 270 employees at the time.[1][4]
Chef was founded in 2008 as Opscode by Adam Jacob, who is credited as its key originator, starting from a consulting firm with early team members like Nathan Haneysmith, Barry Steinglass, and Joshua Timberman.[2][5] The idea emerged from real-world needs in infrastructure management, evolving amid the DevOps movement and Web 2.0's push for scalable software practices; pivotal moments included inventing InSpec for compliance and launching Habitat for application deployment two years before its 10th anniversary in 2018.[2] By 2020, under CEO Barry Crist, it expanded from infrastructure to full application automation before its acquisition by Progress.[4]
Chef rides the DevOps and infrastructure-as-code wave, timing its rise with the shift from physical servers to IaaS, PaaS, containers, and serverless, making legacy app teams more agile.[2] Market forces like enterprise cloud adoption and compliance demands favor its holistic automation, influencing the ecosystem by pioneering tools like InSpec and Habitat that standardize practices across industries.[2][4] Post-acquisition by Progress, it amplifies reach in IT operations management, competing in a space with BMC Software while contributing to open-source norms that accelerate digital transformation.[1][4]
Under Progress since 2020, Chef is positioned to expand its platform with greater scale, integrating deeper into enterprise workflows amid rising AI-driven ops and hybrid cloud trends.[4] Expect focus on evolving compliance, security, and app delivery tools to handle multi-cloud complexity, potentially growing influence through Progress's acquisition strategy aiming for doubled size.[4] As IT automation matures, Chef's community-driven innovations will likely solidify its role in making infrastructure "nice things" for all teams, tying back to its origins in solving daily pains for faster, safer businesses.[2]
Chef Software was founded in 2008 by Jesse Robbins (Founder, CEO, Advisor).
Chef Software has raised $106.0M in total across 5 funding rounds.
Chef Software's investors include American Express Ventures, Battery Ventures, Citi Ventures, Contour Venture Partners, Crosslink Capital, DFJ, Emergence Capital, Goat Capital, Ignition Partners, LAUNCH, Matrix, Meritech Capital Partners.
Key people at Chef Software.
Chef Software has raised $106.0M across 5 funding rounds. Most recently, it raised $40.0M Series E in September 2015.
