Introduction
The field of Serverless Compute has seen many companies come and go. Keeping up with the fast-paced news of the serverless landscape is a challenge. By the time we finish a company listing, the company might have already disappeared.
In this post, we want to talk about a few of these companies that didn’t make it or were absorbed by bigger players.
The Companies
TriggerMesh
Founded in: 2018
Stopped in: 2023 (acquired by Nvidia)
Stopping reason: TriggerMesh was acquired by Nvidia. Many of the founders and key team members now work at Nvidia, which suggests that the company was absorbed into Nvidia’s larger operations.
What they did well: TriggerMesh was great at connecting different cloud services and on-premises applications using serverless functions. They made it easier for developers to create complex workflows and process data in real time.
Kubeless
Founded in: 2017
Stopped in: 2020
Stopping reason: Kubeless was archived by VMware as they decided to focus on other Kubernetes projects that aligned better with their long-term goals.
What they did well: Kubeless was simple and integrated smoothly with Kubernetes. It allowed developers to run serverless functions on Kubernetes clusters, making use of their existing Kubernetes setups.
Nimbella
Founded in: 2018
Stopped in: 2021 (acquired by DigitalOcean)
Stopping reason: Nimbella was acquired by DigitalOcean. The technology and team were integrated into DigitalOcean’s platform to expand its serverless and cloud offerings.
What they did well: Nimbella was very user-friendly and supported multiple programming languages. It provided a unified platform for creating serverless functions, managing APIs, and deploying web applications.
Sources for Nimbella’s acquisition:
Stackery
Founded in: 2016
Stopped in: 2021 (acquired by AWS)
Stopping reason: Stackery was acquired by AWS. This acquisition helped AWS enhance its tools for serverless development.
What they did well: Stackery provided powerful tools for building, deploying, and managing serverless applications. Their platform helped developers be more productive and efficient in their work.
Heptio
Founded in: 2016
Stopped in: 2018 (acquired by VMware)
Stopping reason: Heptio was acquired by VMware to help with their Kubernetes and container management tools.
What they did well: Heptio created tools and services that made it easier for companies to use Kubernetes. They focused on simplifying the management of containerized applications at scale.
Stackpath
Founded in: 2015
Stopped in: 2023
Stopping reason: StackPath announced the immediate end-of-life (EOL) for any remaining servicess.
What they did well: StackPath provided edge computing and CDN services, with a strong emphasis on security and performance. Their serverless functions allowed developers to run code at the edge, closer to users, for faster response times.
Sources for StackPath’s end-of-life announcement:
Conclusion
This concludes our look at some of the serverless companies that are no longer with us. Even though they have disappeared or been absorbed, their ideas and contributions continue to influence the serverless world. As the serverless ecosystem keeps changing, we’ll keep an eye on the new players and remember those that have come and gone.