planetscale raises $30m series b for its database service

PlanetScale Secures $30 Million in Series B Funding

PlanetScale, the organization responsible for Vitess, an open-source MySQL database clustering system initially created at YouTube, has announced a $30 million Series B funding round. This investment was spearheaded by Insight Partners, with additional participation from a16z and SignalFire.

According to Crunchbase data, this latest funding brings the company’s total raised capital to $55 million.

Launch of New Hosted Database Platform

This announcement follows closely on the heels of PlanetScale’s recent launch of its new hosted database platform, also named PlanetScale. Previously, the company provided a hosted Vitess solution.

However, the new service represents a significant advancement, offering what the company terms a “developer-first database.” This approach abstracts away complex infrastructure details, relieving developers from concerns about cloud zones, cluster sizing, and other technical intricacies.

Addressing Limitations of Previous Offerings

PlanetScale’s CEO and co-founder, Jiten Vaidya, openly acknowledged the shortcomings of their earlier product. He stated that the previous iteration was essentially hosted Vitess, comparable to database offerings from many cloud providers.

Vaidya emphasized that the earlier product lacked the ease of use, elegance, and modern experiences that developers now demand.

New Leadership and Developer Focus

The company recently appointed Sam Lambert, former VP of Engineering at GitHub, as its Chief Product Officer. Vaidya highlighted Lambert’s contribution of strong developer empathy to PlanetScale.

This empathy was instrumental in the launch of the new product.

Prioritizing the User Experience

Lambert articulated the core philosophy behind PlanetScale’s approach. “Users turn to us because they aren’t database specialists, yet they possess data and face challenges,” he explained.

He criticized the database industry’s tendency to prioritize technical prowess over user needs, stating that many companies fail to consider the complete user journey and focus solely on data storage and retrieval.

Growing User Base and Product Philosophy

PlanetScale currently serves prominent clients including Slack, Figma, GitHub, and Square, demonstrating its value proposition. The company aims to provide a product that is both simple and user-friendly.

Lambert asserted that simplicity and elegant design do not equate to inferiority. Instead, they represent a refinement and enhancement of infrastructure products, adding elements of beauty and polish.

Future Plans and Board Changes

The newly acquired funding will be utilized to expand PlanetScale’s team internationally and accelerate the adoption of its platform.

Nikhil Sachdev, Managing Director at Insight Partners, will join PlanetScale’s board of directors, while Praveen Akkiraju, also a Managing Director at Insight Partners, will join as a board observer.

Insight Partners’ Perspective

Sachdev commented that PlanetScale is establishing a new standard for simplicity, performance, and scalability in cloud databases within the serverless environment.

He noted that the developer experience with databases has historically been problematic, and PlanetScale is effectively addressing long-standing issues related to scalability and reliability with an elegant and practical solution.