Fugue raises $41 million to help companies automate AWS

Cloud infrastructure startup Fugue (formerly known as Luminal), announced today a funding round of $41 million.

Founded in 2013, Fugue offers a software product that builds, operates, and maintains cloud infrastructure. Anyone can download and install it for free using an Amazon Web Service (AWS) account. Prices start at $1,500 per month for more advanced features.

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Cofounder and CEO Josh Stella is a former employee of AWS, where he worked for a little over a year as a principal solutions architect. “When people first go to cloud, they start out thinking about cloud as remote data centers,” said Stella. “But that’s really an anachronistic view. The cloud is a completely dynamic, global computer and you can use it as such.”

The product launched at AWS re:Invent last November. For now, Fugue is focusing on AWS, but it will add more cloud providers, thanks to this latest funding round. Fugue faces competition from other companies that manage cloud infrastructure, including Chef, Puppet, SaltStack, and now Red Hat’s Ansible.

The funding announcement comes as Fugue prepares to launch an enterprise version of its product in the next few weeks.

The name Fugue, which does tickle one’s curiosity, is inspired by the musical term, whereby you can take short, simple phrases and combine them to make more robust and complex compositions. It’s a good metaphor for building complex systems, Stella said. “The product was always called Fugue, but having too many brands was bad! (laughs) So we decided to just pick one.”

In addition to adding new cloud providers, Fugue will use the new money to expand its sales and marketing, as it has largely focused on product development until now. The round was led by New Enterprise Associates (NEA), with participation from previous investor Maryland Venture Fund and new investor Future Fund, the sovereign wealth fund of Australia. The startup has raised $75 million in total.

Fugue currently has 60 employees across offices in Frederick, Maryland; Washington D.C.; and San Jose, California.