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Key people at Greenqloud.
GreenQloud, an Icelandic provider of cloud infrastructure services, initially offered Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) powered by 100% renewable geothermal energy. The company provided virtual machines and storage solutions with AWS-compatible APIs, targeting businesses seeking sustainable cloud alternatives. GreenQloud raised undisclosed funding from Icelandic investors, including Keel Investments, NSA Ventures, and Novator, and secured a disclosed $4 million round from Kelly Ireland in 2016. Following a strategic pivot, the company shifted its focus to hybrid cloud management software, Qstack, ceasing public cloud operations in 2015, and was subsequently acquired by NetApp. Jónsi Stefánsson served as CEO from 2014, with Kjölur fjárfestingarfélag holding a 38.8% stake as of 2017. It was founded in February 2010 by Eirikur Hrafnsson.
GreenQloud was a pioneering Icelandic cloud computing company founded in 2010, initially offering public Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) powered by 100% renewable energy data centers, such as Compute Qloud (similar to AWS EC2) and Storage Qloud (similar to S3).[1][2][3] It pivoted in 2014-2015 to focus exclusively on developing and selling Qstack, an enterprise-grade cloud management platform for private, hybrid, and public clouds, supporting hypervisors like VMware, KVM, Hyper-V, bare metal provisioning, and later Kubernetes for container orchestration.[1][2][3] Targeting global enterprises seeking efficient, sustainable cloud solutions, GreenQloud solved hybrid cloud management challenges with hardened, open-source-based software meeting strict security standards; it was acquired by NetApp in 2017 for $51 million, integrating its technology into NetApp's hybrid cloud data services.[1][2][3][5]
The company served service providers and enterprises needing scalable, eco-friendly cloud orchestration, emphasizing speed, ease of use, and environmental sustainability through Iceland's geothermal energy.[1][2][3] Post-acquisition, GreenQloud's assets fueled NetApp's cloud automation and Service Delivery Engine (SDE) built on Kubernetes, marking strong growth momentum from IaaS startup to software acqui-hire.[2][3][5]
GreenQloud emerged from Iceland's tech scene in 2010, founded by a team leveraging the country's abundant, cheap renewable geothermal energy for data centers—unlike most hosts relying on carbon offsets.[1][2][3] Early investors included Keel Investments (2010), NSA Ventures (2011), Novator (2014 lead), and Kelly Ireland ($4M in 2016), with major ownership by Meson Holding (Vilhjálmur Þorsteinsson at ~1.1% noted, but ~90% held by key stakeholders, founders, employees, and options).[3][4][5] The idea crystallized around building "truly green" AWS-compatible public cloud services, launching public beta in 2011 from Reykjavik HQ, with a Seattle office added in 2013 for U.S. expansion.[1][2][3]
Pivotal shifts defined its path: building on Cloud.com (later Apache CloudStack), releasing modified Qstack in 2014, then shutting down public cloud ops in 2015 under new CEO Jónsi Stefánsson (board member turned leader) to go pure software play amid rising hybrid cloud demand.[1][2][3] This focus led to 2017 NetApp acquisition, a boon for Iceland's ecosystem amid mixed post-acquisition outcomes for local startups.[3][5]
GreenQloud rode the early 2010s sustainable cloud wave and hybrid/multi-cloud shift, timing perfectly with post-Snowden data sovereignty concerns, renewable energy pushes by Google/Facebook/Apple, and enterprise demand for non-AWS lock-in.[1][2][3] Iceland's cheap geothermal power countered high-energy cloud costs (data centers ~2% global electricity), enabling competitive, eco-friendly IaaS amid rising carbon scrutiny.[1][3] Market forces like hybrid complexity favored Qstack's orchestration, influencing the ecosystem by open-sourcing roots (CloudStack) and validating Iceland as a green tech hub—its $51M NetApp exit spurred local investment despite varied acqui-hire retention.[3][5]
Post-2017 acquisition, GreenQloud lives on via NetApp's hybrid cloud portfolio, with its Icelandic team driving Kubernetes-powered Service Delivery Engine (SDE) for "everything-as-a-service" amid container/AI workloads.[3][5] Next: Expanded SDE integration could power NetApp's data fabric growth as hybrid clouds evolve with edge computing and sustainability mandates. Trends like EU green regs and hyperscaler energy caps will amplify its legacy, potentially evolving NetApp's influence in automated, low-carbon orchestration—echoing how a Reykjavik pivot turned renewable IaaS into enterprise software gold.[2][3][5]
Key people at Greenqloud.
