Cloud Startup Pivotal Lands $253 Million Led by Ford, Microsoft

Cloud platform startup Pivotal announced that it expects to close a $253 million Series C financing round led by new investors Ford Motor Company and Microsoft. Previous investors GE, EMC and VMware also participated in the round.

The deal is expected to close in May, subject to regulatory approval.

Pivotal has seen growth in the enterprise since its launch three years ago; the company works with top US financial institutions and telecommunications providers.

Ford started working with Pivotal last year to build its Ford Smart Mobility connected vehicle platform by leveraging Pivotal Cloud Foundry and Pivotal Big Data Suite.

“Here at Pivotal we are partnering with customers to create a world where the largest and most admired companies can build and run software like Google, Uber or any venture-backed startup. This investment will accelerate our global reach to bring our unique software development methodology and modern cloud platform and analytics tools to every forward-thinking CEO,” Rob Mee, Pivotal CEO said in a statement. “We are excited to announce Ford and Microsoft as strategic partners to help introduce Pivotal’s transformative cloud and analytics software to the next thousand customers.”

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Pivotal recently announced its first quarter 2016 revenue of $83 million, up 56 percent year over year.

“Expanding our business to be both an auto and mobility company requires leading-edge software expertise to deliver outstanding customer experiences,” said Mark Fields, Ford president and CEO. “Our investment in Pivotal will help strengthen our ability to deliver these customer experiences at the speed of Silicon Valley, including continually expanding FordPass – our digital, physical and personal mobility experience platform.”