Gravitant was a technology company headquartered in Austin, Texas, founded in 2004, that developed cloudMatrix, a cloud services brokerage (CSB) platform enabling enterprises to assess, design, compare, order, provision, source, govern, manage, and measure cloud services across public, private, virtualization, and managed environments.[1][2][3] The platform served large enterprises, system integrators, and channel partners, solving the challenge of transitioning IT from slow ticket-based models to agile IT-as-a-Service (ITaaS) through multi-cloud brokerage and hybrid cloud management.[1][2] Gravitant raised funding from investors including IBM, S3 Ventures, Corsa Ventures, and Cielo Capital Group, achieving significant traction before its acquisition by IBM on November 3, 2015, which integrated cloudMatrix into IBM's hybrid cloud offerings.[2][3][4][5]
Gravitant was founded in 2004 in Austin, Texas, by Mohammed Farooq (Founder & CEO), with Brad Anderson serving as President & COO.[1][4] The company emerged during the early consolidation of virtualization and cloud services, addressing the need for a unified brokerage platform to handle the growing complexity of hybrid IT environments.[1][2] Early traction came from its positioning as the longest-running CSB platform, trusted by major enterprises and partners, supported by investments from S3 Ventures, Corsa Ventures, Cielo Equity Holdings, and later IBM.[2][4] A pivotal moment was its acquisition by IBM in 2015, which boosted its scale by embedding cloudMatrix into IBM's hybrid cloud strategy.[3][5]
Gravitant rode the hybrid cloud trend of the early 2010s, when enterprises sought to integrate on-premises, public, and private clouds amid virtualization's rise, timing perfectly with the shift to ITaaS and multi-cloud strategies.[1][2][5] Market forces like exploding cloud adoption and the need for brokerage tools favored its model, influencing the ecosystem by pioneering CSB platforms that IBM later scaled globally.[3][4][5] Its acquisition accelerated IBM's hybrid cloud capabilities, setting precedents for vendor-agnostic management tools still relevant in today's multi-cloud dominance.[5]
Post-2015 acquisition, Gravitant's cloudMatrix lives on within IBM's hybrid cloud portfolio, likely evolved into broader tools like IBM Cloud Pak for Multicloud Management, benefiting from IBM's resources amid rising AI-driven hybrid demands.[3][5] Trends like edge computing, sovereign clouds, and zero-trust security will shape its legacy, pushing for even more automated brokerage. Its influence endures as a foundational CSB model, enabling enterprises to navigate increasingly complex clouds—tying back to Gravitant's core mission of agile IT transformation.[1][2]
Gravitant has raised $40.0M in total across 3 funding rounds.
Gravitant's investors include S3 Ventures, Texas Halo Fund.
Gravitant has raised $40.0M across 3 funding rounds. Most recently, it raised $25.0M Series B in November 2014.
| Date | Round | Lead Investors | Other Investors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 1, 2014 | $25.0M Series B | S3 Ventures, Texas Halo Fund | |
| Jan 1, 2014 | $10.0M Series B | S3 Ventures, Texas Halo Fund | |
| Aug 1, 2012 | $5.0M Series A | S3 Ventures, Texas Halo Fund |