Modern software companies no longer run on a single cloud; they’re spread across dozens of specialized providers, from AI platforms to data warehouses to edge networks. This fragmentation creates a problem: today’s developers grew up building apps in the cloud, but most lack the network engineering skills needed to securely connect all these different services together. The capabilities that tech giants spent years building – private network connections, global infrastructure, and sophisticated traffic routing – remain out of reach for smaller teams who face the same challenges of connecting applications across multiple providers while meeting security and regulatory requirements. Datum solves this through an open network cloud that gives any developer access to enterprise-grade networking capabilities through tools they already use like Kubernetes and Cursor. The company aims to help 1,000 new cloud platforms deploy the kind of infrastructure that previously required months of work and specialized network engineering teams.
AlleyWatch sat down with Datum Cofounder and CEO Zachary Smith to learn more about the business, the team’s unique background building infrastructure companies, recent funding, and much more…
Who were your investors and how much did you raise?
We raised $13.6M across a combined preseed and seed round. The pre-seed round was led by Amplify and Encoded Ventures, with support from Vine Ventures, Cervin Ventures and StepFunction VC. The Series Seed was led by CRV and supported by the existing investors, along with Ex/Ante.
Tell us about the product or service that Datum offers.
Datum is building an open network cloud to power the next wave of clouds in the age of AI. We have launched an initial Builder tier that offers a global edge proxy, integrated WAF and Domains and DNS management. Our Scaler tier will come out next year and include our Galactic VPC capability for virtualized backbones and meet me rooms. Alongside this we’re working with several design win customers on our Provider tier, to more fully integrate Datum’s capabilities into their offerings.
What inspired the start of Datum?
We have been compelled by 3 big trends that we knew needed to be solved:
There are hundreds, or thousands, of new clouds (from data clouds to GPU clouds to sovereign clouds). This is causing workload and data to be pushed across an increasing number of locations and providers.
The internet is becoming less flat and more of a “splinternet” with regulation, privacy and politics making it difficult for clouds, SaaS companies and their customers to comply without curated, programmatic connections.
After 15 years of “born in the cloud” professionals, there is an extreme lack of talent capable of building and maintaining interconnected networks and the Internet, just when that skill is desperately needed.
Datum was born to address these trends by ‘upgrading’ the Internet for a new age of builders and bringing the super powers of the biggest clouds to thousands of new platforms.
How is Datum different?
Datum is building in the open, both from a community standpoint and with our software (which is primarily licensed under an aGPLv3 license). However, beyond our technology, the real difference is our business model. We’re 100% focused on supporting a new wave of cloud builders and aim to be a neutral partner to help them grow, innovative and service their end users.
What market does Datum target and how big is it?
We’re early in our business but believe the interconnected cloud market to be north of $30B.
What’s your business model?
Our business model is to monetize our network cloud through usage charges and for connections made through and with our platform.
How are you preparing for a potential economic slowdown?
We are conservative in our investment capacity while preparing for the growth our customers expect us to support them with. We raised additional capital knowing that fundamental infrastructure platforms like Datum can take a long time to mature.
What was the funding process like?
We incubated the idea of Datum closely with Alex Benik from Encoded. When it was time to raise capital, we were fortunate to have several strong backers, including when Reid at CRV pro-actively led our Seed round. We’re fortunate to have developed long and close relationships with each of our partners over years, which led to a very smooth fundraising process.
What are the biggest challenges that you faced while raising capital?
No real challenges in this raise. We are very fortunate to be partnering with a strong group of backers.
What factors about your business led your investors to write the check?
I think investors were attracted to the fundamental scale of the problem we’re trying to tackle, alongside a proven track record across 2 successful exits to public companies that show execution, market awareness and the industry context to work in the digital infrastructure space.
What are the milestones you plan to achieve in the next six months?
We are 100% focused on building trust with our users and supporting our first group of provider customers as they adopt our platform.
What advice can you offer companies in New York that do not have a fresh injection of capital in the bank?
New York is absolutely the best place in the world to meet a variety of customers and partners. Go to meetups, ask for referrals, be humble, use your time and proximity to learn more and learn faster. I like to call this creating your own luck.
Where do you see the company going now over the near term?
My hope is that we will get some truly active users in our community, including 3rd party contributors that don’t work for Datum. And, alongside that, lean in deep with a handful of the right new clouds to help them scale and move faster with customers. That would be amazing.
What’s your favorite fall destination in and around the city?
My brother, sister and parents live in south Vermont. As such, that’s always a fan favorite. Great drive, excellent farm stands and plenty of maple syrup to stock up on!
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