Container software may not be as sexy as the latest dating app, or social media platform, but without companies like Tutum and Docker, the technology we use every day might not exist.
New York-based and Techstars alum Tutum was acquired by Docker this week for an undisclosed fee. The deal cements the partnership, but the two companies have been working closely together for the past two years.
Software containers are discrete sections of code that form programming blocks to perform micro services. Developers can purchase the containers rather that writing their own code, which allows them to program more quickly and focus on the core code that makes their product unique. Docker builds, ships and runs these software containers.
Tutum is a cloud service that makes it easy to run Docker’s containers in any environment. Tutum users see a dashboard of all the Docker containers they’re managing allowing them to see inside the code and easily run and redeploy those sections of code. It makes Docker much easier to use and a far more attractive proposal for developers.
Tutum co-founders Fernando Mayo and Borja Burgos' (pictured above) friendship dates back to elementary school in Spain, but they started the company in South America in 2013. Tutum, which is latin for safe, passed through the Startup Chile accelerator and then to NXTP Labs in Buenos Aires just when Docker’s container scheduler was in beta.
By the time Tutum arrived in New York in early 2014 for the Techstars program, Burgos and Mayo knew they were going to build a tool to work with Docker. “In every engineer’s lifetime there will be a fundamental shift in perspective ‘before Docker’ and ‘after Docker,’” said Burgos in a statement.
After graduation they raised seed funding led by RTP Ventures and Azure Capital. They established their first office in Williamsburg in Brooklyn and Burgos decided NYC was the best place to be for his startup. “Sharing a tiny apartment in Manhattan with your team is an unforgettable bonding experience unlike any other.”
Tutum quickly grew a fan base of developers around the globe and despite having a product for less than a year, the company has helped deploy millions of Docker containers for tens of thousands of customers. The team has since grown and there is now a second office in Madrid.
Since the team had been working closely with Docker from the beginning the acquisition was a logical step, but Tutum’s product will remain. “We want to be clear that Tutum’s services to provision infrastructure and deploy and manage Docker apps are here to stay,” Docker CEO, Scott Johnston, wrote in a blog post. “This announcement will bring more users and usage to Tutum’s public Beta, and with the help of your feedback we look forward to making these services even better.”
