Docker scores 40 MILLION greenbacks to pop business into boxes

Containerisation mavens Docker have scooped $40m in series C funding.

Docker promotes a way of running applications inside portable “containers” that differ from virtual machines in that many can run on a single operating system.

The likes of Google use containers at colossal scale and the concept has proven so compelling that in recent weeks Cisco, VMware and Parallels have all lined up to endorse and embrace Docker.

The company can also point to the small matter of 18 million downloads of its software since June. That's a rather nice number given it launched in March 2013 and accumulated three million downloads between that milestone and its June 2014 convention.

When The Reg met Docker CEO Ben Golub at VMworld, he admitted that the company's rapid rise meant he could usefully be doing any of three or four things other than attend the conference on that day.

As Docker's canned statement says it “will use the funds to drive adoption of its platform in the enterprise and to broaden its rapidly growing ecosystem of application developers, system administrators, platform providers, and technology partners”, perhaps we can suggest those chores will be undertaken by new hires who leave Golub free to lead the company.

This round of funding was led by Sequoia Capital, which joins existing investors Benchmark Capital, Greylock Partners, Insight Ventures, Trinity Ventures, and Jerry Yang as having written cheques to help the company grow. ®