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<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right click-to-enlarge"><div><div class="image"><a title_source="IBM" title_caption="IBM CEO Ginni Rometty" class="zoomin" href="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/528d130169bedd8c0b98523f-960/ibm-virginia-rometty.jpg"></a><a href="https://www-304.ibm.com/connections/blogs/robertoa/date/201311?sortby=1&amp;maxresults=15&amp;lang=en_us">IBM</a>IBM CEO Ginni Rometty</div></div></div>In an interesting and fairly brilliant competitive move, IBM has bought a startup called Cloudant for an undisclosed sum.
Cloudant was founded by three MIT physicists who <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/god-particle-led-to-startup-cloudant-2012-12">invented a cloud computing database</a> while working on one of the world's greatest mysteries: the search for the God particle.
After the particle was found, the physicists discovered that their database, which helps thousands of scientists share data, was the stuff of a great startup. They were accepted in the Y Combinator program and launched Cloudant in 2008. The trio raised $16 million in venture funds along the way, hiring about 60 people and signing over 2,500 customers, including some huge ones like<a href="https://cloudant.com/customers/"> Samsung, Adobe and Nokia.</a>
But here's the curious part: One of the investors in Cloudant's biggest and most recent $12 million round last May was Rackspace. That's one of IBM's biggest cloud computing competitors. It's curious that Rackspace didn't buy Cloudant for itself.
<div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right click-to-enlarge" style="width:300px"><div class="image"><a title_source="YouTube/CloudantInc" title_caption="Cloudant cofounders Mike Miller (left) and Alan Hoffman." class="zoomin" href="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/50d8a5d1ecad04286c000019-960/cloudant-founders.jpg"></a><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaOBCsFjgS8">YouTube/CloudantInc</a>Cloudant cofounders Mike Miller (left) and Alan Hoffman.</div></div>On top of that, Cloudant uses a database technology that competes with the one that IBM is trying to get people to use.
Specifically, Cloudant's main product is something called a database-as-a-service, meaning that companies can rent the database hosted on a cloud provider like Amazon, Rackspace or IBM's SoftLayer, paying for it on a monthly bases.
It's a type of database called noSQL, which is a popular tech for Internet apps and mobile apps.
Cloudant was built using a noSQL database called CouchDB. But <a href="http://www.mongodb.com/partners/software/ibm">IBM has also thrown its weight behind a competing noSQL database called MongoDB</a>. IBM is trying to help MongoDB become the <a href="http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/41222.wss">most popular noSQL database used by mobile app developers.</a>
So, with one fell swoop, IBM is no on both sides of the fight: It has backed MongoDB and it now owns a popular startup backed by a rival company that uses a rival technology. That gives lets it benefit from customers who use both cloud computing services.
Plus, IBM is moving in during a sensitive time for Rackspace, which is searching for a new CEO. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/rackspace-shares-get-killed-after-ceo-lanham-napier-announces-surprise-retirement-2014-2">Former CEO Lanham Napier retired unexpectedly</a> earlier this month after posting a quarter that showed Rackspace was struggling to grow its all-important cloud computing business.
Disclosure: Business Insider founder Kevin Ryan is also co-founder of MongoDB.

In A Curious Move, IBM Acquires A Startup Called Cloudant

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaOBCsFjgS8">YouTube/CloudantInc</a>Mike Miller(left) and Alan Hoffman, cofounders of <keyword id="1739514" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Cloudant">Cloudant</keyword></div></div></div>Four years ago, three scientists and friends were working on one of the world's greatest mysteries: the search for the God particle.
They didn't know they would soon leave physics and become cofounders of a hot young startup, Cloudant.
This summer the God particle (also known as the Higgs boson particle) was found, validating five decades of physics work and about $10 billion dollars spent to build the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva.
The guys from Cloudant cheered when they heard the news. All three had worked at the LHC at one point so they helped to <a href="%20http://www.businessinsider.com/why-is-the-god-particle-such-a-big-deal-2012-7">discover this particle, which is proof of an invisible field</a> that causes other particles to stick together and form everything physical in the universe from cells to stars.
"We were certainly very excited. We had friends in the auditorium when they made the announcement," Cloudant cofounder Alan Hoffman told Business Insider.
But they also felt "deep disappointment," explained cofounder Mike Miller. "Higgs was the last piece of puzzle and it was a corner piece. The hope was that would link to another puzzle or some kind of hint of where to go next but it just kind of ended the puzzle."
But Hoffman and Miller know exactly what their future holds: growing their young database-as-as-service startup.
They had created a <keyword id="140601" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="database">database</keyword> that helped thousands of collider scientists to share data with others around the world, built on a popular open-source noSQL database known as Couch.
They had no plans to turn it into a for-profit business until December, 2007, when BusinessWeek ran a cover story called <a href="http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2007-12-12/google-and-the-wisdom-of-clouds">Google and The Wisdom of The Clouds</a>. It was an introduction to the explosion of data now known as "big data."
"Oh my God, this is what we do," Miller said when he saw the article. "We all saw this as a chance."
A few months later, in 2008, the three friends left science to launch their startup. Cloudant was accepted as into the Y Combinator Boston accelerator.
Today, it has about 40 employees, serving about 12,000 customers with its freemium cloud, with about 3% as paying customers. In 2012, it grew 10 times bigger over 2011.
Cloudant raised about $4 million in venture capital from Avalon Ventures in 2010. Plus, in October, the CIA's venture funding arm In-Q-Tel also took a stake of <a href="https://cloudant.com/cloudant-and-iqt-sign-agreement-to-advance-cloud-database-technology-for-u-s-intelligence-community/">an undisclosed amount. </a>
The best part of being a startup founder compared to a physicist?
"I love how easy it is to get money as a startup compared to the grant process," Miller laughs. As a startup,"you can walk into a room and get a handshake when things go right."

How The Search For The God Particle Led To This Cool Startup

<div class="image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaOBCsFjgS8">YouTube/CloudantInc</a>Mike Miller(left) and Alan Hoffman, cofounders of <keyword id="1739514" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Cloudant">Cloudant</keyword></div></div></div>Four years ago, three scientists and friends were working on one of the world's greatest mysteries: the search for the God particle.
They didn't know they would soon leave physics and become cofounders of a hot young startup, Cloudant.
This summer the God particle (also known as the Higgs boson particle) was found, validating five decades of physics work and about $10 billion dollars spent to build the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva.
The guys from Cloudant cheered when they heard the news. All three had worked at the LHC at one point so they helped to <a href="%20http://www.businessinsider.com/why-is-the-god-particle-such-a-big-deal-2012-7">discover this particle, which is proof of an invisible field</a> that causes other particles to stick together and form everything physical in the universe from cells to stars.
"We were certainly very excited. We had friends in the auditorium when they made the announcement," Cloudant cofounder Alan Hoffman told Business Insider.
But they also felt "deep disappointment," explained cofounder Mike Miller. "Higgs was the last piece of puzzle and it was a corner piece. The hope was that would link to another puzzle or some kind of hint of where to go next but it just kind of ended the puzzle."
But Hoffman and Miller know exactly what their future holds: growing their young database-as-as-service startup.
They had created a <keyword id="140601" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="database">database</keyword> that helped thousands of collider scientists to share data with others around the world, built on a popular open-source noSQL database known as Couch.
They had no plans to turn it into a for-profit business until December, 2007, when BusinessWeek ran a cover story called <a href="http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2007-12-12/google-and-the-wisdom-of-clouds">Google and The Wisdom of The Clouds</a>. It was an introduction to the explosion of data now known as "big data."
"Oh my God, this is what we do," Miller said when he saw the article. "We all saw this as a chance."
A few months later, in 2008, the three friends left science to launch their startup. Cloudant was accepted as into the Y Combinator Boston accelerator.
Today, it has about 40 employees, serving about 12,000 customers with its freemium cloud, with about 3% as paying customers. In 2012, it grew 10 times bigger over 2011.
Cloudant raised about $4 million in venture capital from Avalon Ventures in 2010. Plus, in October, the CIA's venture funding arm In-Q-Tel also took a stake of <a href="https://cloudant.com/cloudant-and-iqt-sign-agreement-to-advance-cloud-database-technology-for-u-s-intelligence-community/">an undisclosed amount. </a>
The best part of being a startup founder compared to a physicist?
"I love how easy it is to get money as a startup compared to the grant process," Miller laughs. As a startup,"you can walk into a room and get a handshake when things go right."

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In A Curious Move, IBM Acquires A Startup Called Cloudant

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How The Search For The God Particle Led To This Cool Startup

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How The Search For The God Particle Led To This Cool Startup

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