Grotech Ventures– and Sands Capital Ventures-backed pgEdge, a Virginia startup developing software that helps companies use an open-source relational database management system, said it has secured strategic investments from cybersecurity and cloud computing firm Akamai Technologies, and global investment firm Qube Research & Technologies, an early customer of the company.
Existing investors Rally Ventures and Sands Capital also participated. Alexandria, Va.-based pgEdge did not disclose the amount raised. In 2023, Arlington, Va.-based Sands Capital and Owings Mills, Md.-based Grotech participated in a $9 million seed round for pgEdge. Last year, Grotech joined a $10 million growth capital round. The startup has so far raised bringing $23 million from investors.
Using its own technology, Alexandria, Va.-based pgEdge optimizes use of PostgreSQL, aka Postgres, a free and open-source relational database management system known for its extensibility and SQL compliance. It claims to be the only fully distributed PostgreSQL database that is both open (source available) and entirely based on standard PostgreSQL. Its multi-master replication technology, for example, significantly reduces latency and ensures ultra-high availability for mission-critical applications, enabling wide deployment of the database management system across the globe.
“These investments are a terrific validation of the value of pgEdge Distributed PostgreSQL,” said pgEdge co-founder and CEO Phillip Merrick, who has previously led Fugue and SparkPost. “We are delighted to see QRT strengthen their partnership with us, and equally excited to collaborate with Akamai on advanced solutions in edge computing and edge AI.”
Akamai’s Michael Merideth, who serves as chief architect in the office of Akamai’s chief technology officer, pointed out clear synergies between his company and pgEdge.
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“pgEdge’s capability to provide geo-distributed PostgreSQL databases at or near the network edge for low data latency and high availability is highly complementary with how Akamai enables organizations to deploy stateful applications at the network edge on its distributed cloud,” said Merideth, who did graduate research at Carnegie Mellon University.
Early Backers
Founded in 1992, Sands Capital has raised more than $2.1 billion across nine funds. The firm has made over 100 portfolio investments and over 30 exits. It is known for its so-called Pulse Strategy, focusing on life sciences. Sands Capital’s most recent investments include CompScience, Dreadnode, Fire1, Cytrellis and Cytovale. Its notable exits include DoorDash, Funding Circle and Anaplan.
At Grotech, general partner Steve Fredrick has overseen the firm’s investment in pgEdge. A 19-year veteran at the firm, Fredrick focuses on investments in software and services, with a particular interest in security and big data. An alumnus of Virginia Tech, Fredrick worked as an engineer with IBM, before founding a software development firm, MartinScott.
