CenturyLink is acquiring cloud-database startup Orchestrate

Cloud and telecommunications provider CenturyLink is planning to announce tomorrow that it has acquired Orchestrate, a startup with a fully managed cloud database for storing and serving up information, VentureBeat has learned.

A source familiar with the matter confirmed the deal and estimated that CenturyLink paid between $10 million and $12 million for Orchestrate.

(Update: CenturyLink issued a statement on the deal several hours ahead of schedule but didn’t disclose terms.)

Orchestrate’s technology could come in handy for publicly traded CenturyLink as it keeps building out its cloud to compete with the likes of cloud infrastructure heavyweights Amazon, Google, and Microsoft. (Last year IDC forecasted that the infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) spending would reach $24.6 billion in 2018.)

Orchestrate’s database as a service (DBaaS), which could fit nicely inside an IaaS portfolio, brings together capabilities that are typically part of separate standalone NoSQL databases. The service can work with graph, geospatial, and key-value data. It includes full-text search capability, too.

CenturyLink has been on a cloud-acquisition tear in the past few years. Other acquisitions include Savvis, AppFog, Tier 3, and DataGardens.

A move last month may have foreshadowed this deal. Orchestrate announced that developers could run its technology through the CenturyLink cloud.

The DBaaS market isn’t massive, but IBM’s acquisition last year of the startup Cloudant has helped it grow. Meanwhile, Microsoft recently rolled out its own cloud-based, fully managed NoSQL database, Azure DocumentDB. A few startups in the market, like Compose (formerly MongoHQ) and Redis Labs (formerly Garantia Data), have picked up funding.

CenturyLink and Orchestrate representatives did not respond to requests for comment.

Orchestrate started in 2013 and is based in Portland, Ore.

If nothing else, the deal will bring some new talent to CenturyLink. Orchestrate cofounder and chief executive Antony Falco was previously chief operating officer and chief technology officer of Basho, a venture-backed startup pushing the Riak NoSQL database.

Orchestrate announced a $3 million seed round in May 2013. Investors include True Ventures, Epic Ventures, Frontline Ventures, and Resonant Venture Partners.

Customers include Cloudability, Evident.io, and Rovio.