Aviatrix Systems, Inc., a cloud networking provider, has risen to $2 billion in value, making it the latest start-up to cross the $1 billion mark (Unicorn).

The company raised $200 million in a financing deal, highlighting investor enthusiasm for the technology that is facilitating the transition of major companies to cloud computing.

TCV, a technology investment firm, led the fundraising, with other new backers including Insight Partners and Tiger Global.

This comes just seven months after a funding round that valued the company at $700 million.

A growing interest in cloud computing

The sharp rise in the rating underscores how keen companies are to move digital information from their own servers to data centers distributed in the cloud.

Many companies work with multiple cloud service providers, which increases the complexity of the work, and the opportunities for services to help them manage change.

Now is the time for a cloud-computing startup. Snowflake, a data storage company, went public about a year ago at a valuation of $33 billion, just months after an estimated $12.4 billion funding round.

The valuation of data analytics firm Databrix jumped to $38 billion last month from $28 billion in February.

strong growth

“The reason valuations are up is because the growth is so high,” said Steve Mulaney, CEO of Aviatrix.

Prior to joining Aviatrix, Mulaney sold Nikira Networks, a leader in the use of cloud-based servers, to VMware in 2012 for $1.26 billion.

After retirement, Mulaney returned to running Aviatrix, which was founded by Sherry Wei in 2014, and is currently the company’s chief technology officer.

Mulaney said the company’s project revenues, based in Santa Clara, California, will be $40 million annually by the end of 2021 and $100 million by the end of 2022.

The company’s clients include: Accenture plc, Heineken Nevada, Sony Pictures Entertainment, and United Airlines Holdings.

Easier data storage

Wary of losing control of their data, many companies come to appreciate the flexibility that comes with using the cloud, as it can easily adapt to sharp changes in customer demand, or prolonged power outages.

Aviatrix is ​​working through the gap it has filled in ensuring the company’s systems work seamlessly with various clouds, from Amazon, Microsoft, and Alphabet. For example, specifying paths, firewalls, and logins may be particularly problematic.

Mullaney compared major cloud services to all-inclusive vacations, which can let down customers who realize when they arrive that amenities aren’t quite what they expected.

“It sounds like a dream, all you can eat, all you can drink… and then you get there,” he said.

TCEV sees Aviatrix as a modern-day company like Kisco Systems that has helped companies adapt to the internet age, but on a larger scale.

Today, companies are running with more data, often across multiple cloud providers, said Tim McAdam, general partner at TCF.

“These dynamics didn’t exist when Cisco was at its heyday,” he added. “It’s a problem of a completely different scale.”