Engine Yard
| File:Engine-Yard logo.svg | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Software industry |
| Founded | 2006 |
| Founder |
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| Headquarters | , United States |
Key people |
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| Products | Engine Yard |
| Parent | DevGraph |
| Website | www |
Engine Yard is a privately owned platform as a service enterprise headquartered in San Francisco, focusing on deployment and management solutions for Ruby on Rails, PHP, and Node.js applications.
History
Established in 2006 by Ezra Zygmuntowicz, Lance Walley, Tom Mornini, and Jayson Vantuyl, Engine Yard provides a cloud-based application management platform. In 2009, John Dillon, who previously served as CEO of Salesforce.com from 1999 to 2001, joined the firm as CEO, contributing strategic direction.
Starting in 2009, Engine Yard actively supported multiple open-source initiatives to improve its platform capabilities. The acquisition of Orchestra.io in August 2011 enhanced its PHP service offerings. By September of the same year, Engine Yard introduced a partner program involving over 40 cloud technology firms that provide complementary services such as application performance monitoring and load testing.
The addition of the Node.js server-side framework to its PaaS portfolio occurred in November 2011. Early reports from 2012 indicated that Engine Yard's revenue had reached $28 million with a 50% increase in its paying customer base to 2,000 users, solidifying its position as a prominent open platform as a service provider.
In 2013, under leadership from executives Eamon Leonard and PJ Hagerty, the company launched one of the earliest Developer Relations teams aimed at fostering stronger developer engagement through targeted content and events. That year also saw the formation of a strategic partnership with Microsoft, culminating in Engine Yard’s availability on the Windows Azure marketplace in July 2013 to broaden its international reach.
April 2015 marked the acquisition of OpDemand along with its container-focused PaaS product Deis, expanding Engine Yard’s product lineup. Microsoft subsequently acquired Deis in April 2017. Shortly thereafter, Engine Yard itself was purchased by Crossover, a provider specializing in cloud-based Ruby development teams, representing a key development in its corporate evolution and growth trajectory.
Funding
In January 2008, Engine Yard raised $3.5 million from Benchmark Capital, demonstrating investor confidence in its Ruby on Rails platform. This was followed by an additional $15 million infusion in July 2008 from Benchmark Capital, New Enterprise Associates, and Amazon, facilitating further expansion efforts.
October 2009 brought another $19 million investment from Benchmark Capital, New Enterprise Associates, Amazon, Bay Partners, Presidio Ventures, and DAG Ventures, increasing total capital raised to $37.5 million. A strategic minority investment by Oracle Corporation was completed in November 2012, strengthening Engine Yard’s financial foundation while preserving its operational autonomy.