10 Hot Technology Startups For September

Startups With A Big Data Focus Top The September 2013 Emerging Vendor List

There may be a chill in the air as fall sets in, but things remain hot in the IT industry on the startup front.

In this month's crop of emerging vendors, we take a look at startups offering leading-edge big data management and analysis technologies, visual development tools, content management applications, and software for migrating applications to the cloud.

In many cases these startups aren't just competing against established vendors on their own turf -- they're changing the rules of the game.

CloudVelocity Aids Migration To The Amazon Cloud

CloudVelocity develops software that businesses use to migrate multitier applications to the cloud and provide those applications with disaster recovery services. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company was founded in 2010 and came out of stealth mode in December 2012.

In July CloudVelocity launched its One Hybrid Cloud software that helps businesses run new and existing Linux and Windows applications within Amazon Web Services clouds.

Also in July the company raised $13 million in second-round venture funding led by Third Point Ventures, with participation from Pelion Venture Partners and Mayfield Fund. Rajeev Chawla is the company's CEO.

Databricks Raises $14 Million, Remains In Stealth Mode

An intriguing startup called Databricks attracted a lot of attention this month when it disclosed it raised $14 million in funding from high-powered venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.

The company's spare website (www.databricks.com) describes the startup as "using cutting-edge technology based on years of research to build next-generation software for analyzing and extracting value from data." A Form D Notice of Exempt Offering of Securities filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission Sept. 25 said the company's headquarters is in Berkeley, Calif.

CEO Ion Stoica, currently a computer science professor at the University of California at Berkeley, was a co-founder of Conviva, a developer of video stream optimization technology. CTO Matei Zaharia, an assistant professor of computer science at MIT, was the creator of Apache Spark, the open-source computer clustering technology.

The Grid Raises $100,000 Through Crowd-Sourcing For Its NoFlo Project

The Grid is developing a mainstream visual development environment called NoFlo based on "flow-based programming." The technology, according to the company, will transform software development from text-oriented coding processes into a visual object-oriented process.

Earlier this month, San Francisco-based The Grid raised $100,000 in financing from Kickstarter, the online crowdsourcing site, to continue its development work.

Noted programmer Henri Bergius (pictured) founded the company, and its CEO is Dan Tocchini.

Upstart JethroData Competes Against Analytics Database Suppliers

JethroData is developing a Hadoop-based analytical database the company said combines Hadoop's scalability with the query performance of a fully indexed, columnar analytic database. The Israeli company, founded in March 2012, is competing with Hewlett-Packard Vertica, IBM Netezza, EMC Greenplum, Teradata Aster and InfoBright.

JethroData raised $4.5 million in venture capital earlier this year in a financing round led by Pitango Venture Capital. Eli Singer is the CEO and co-founder.

Kyruus Brings Big Data Solutions To Healthcare

Kyruus developed the KyruusOne data mining, analysis and workflow system that hospitals and healthcare providers use to examine clinical, operational and financial business processes. By using the system, according to Kyruus, healthcare providers can reduce overhead, improve decision-making, and increase the efficiency of their clinical practices and research activities.

Boston-based Kyruus was founded in 2010. Graham Gardner is the CEO.

Early this year Kyruus received $11 million in a second round of funding led by Lux Capital with participation by Fidelity Biosciences, Venrock and Highland Capital Partners.

Loggly Releases Second-Generation Log Management Service

Loggly develops cloud-based log management software that IT managers use to spot problems within operational applications, identify the root causes and resolve the issues. The San Francisco-based company was founded in 2009, and Charlie Oppenheimer is its CEO.

Earlier this month the company unveiled the second generation of its Responsive Log Management platform with a new interface, visual analysis tools and architecture for handling huge volumes of operational log data.

Also this month Loggly scored $10.5 million in second-round funding from Trinity Ventures, True Ventures and Matrix Partners.

Prelert Expands Reseller Channel For Analytics Software

Prelert develops analytics software used to detect anomalies in IT systems by sifting through huge volumes of data. Products include Prelert for CA Technology's CA APM and Anomaly Detective for Splunk Enterprise.

Mark Jaffe is the CEO of Framingham, Mass.-based Prelert, which was founded in 2009.

In July, Prelert signed a reseller agreement with LC Systems, a Switzerland-based company that will resell Anomaly Detective throughout Europe.

Salsify Looks To Resolve E-Commerce Product Content Bottlenecks

Salsify has developed a cloud-based product content management system that manufacturers, distributors and retailers use to create and distribute product content, such as images and product specifications, needed for e-commerce.

Boston-based Salsify was co-founded in late 2012 by CEO Jason Purcell. Earlier this month the company raised $8 million in first-round funding from Matrix Partners and North Bridge Venture Partners.

WebAction's Technology Handles Big Data In Real-Time

WebAction offers a real-time big data server that IT organizations use to acquire, process and deliver structured and unstructured data. The platform, according to the company, can filter, process, enrich and correlate data while it's still in motion.

WebAction, based in Palo Alto, Calif., was founded in 2012. The company's CEO is Ali Kutay, who was CEO of Golden Gate Software before Oracle acquired it in 2009.

In July, the company raised $11 million in second-round financing with venture capital firm Summit Partners leading the round.

Xplenty Aims To Simplify Hadoop Management

While Hadoop is quickly becoming the standard technology for working with big data, the open-source technology is notoriously difficult to work with. Xplenty offers a cloud Hadoop-as-a-Service and tools that data managers use to get the benefits of Hadoop without the hassle and complexity. That, according to Xplenty, makes the potential benefits of big data available to a wider audience of businesses.

Xplenty, based in Tel Aviv, Israel, was co-founded in 2012 by CEO Yaniv Mor. The company officially launched its platform in April of this year.