Clockwork Raises $21M Series A Led by NEA to Transform Distributed Computing and Networking

PALO ALTO, Calif., March 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Clockwork, developer of technology for time-sensitive applications, today announced it has raised $21M in Series A funding led by global venture capital firm NEA with participation from well-known angel investors John Hennessy, Ram Shriram, Neeraj Bharadwaj, and Jerry Yang. Clockwork was co-founded by Yilong Geng, Deepak Merugu, and Balaji Prabhakar with Mendel Rosenblum serving as Chief Scientist and Board Member.

The funding accompanies the launch of Clockwork's Latency Sensei, a powerful and fine-grained sensor of latencies in cloud, on-premises, and hybrid environments. As the world of computing becomes increasingly virtualized, the underlying infrastructure has become opaque: users cannot access the network elements connecting their virtual machines (VMs) or data containers. Latency Sensei enables a DevOps engineer to see through the fog of virtualization, enabling the user to derive unprecedented visibility, including the ability to measure true one-way delays of a packet or remote procedure call, discover network bottlenecks and "hiccups"⁠ (outages lasting a few seconds), and identify underperforming VMs arising from "noisy neighbors."

"Virtualization has been tremendously successful in enabling the cloud computing revolution," said Clockwork Chief Scientist and Board Member Mendel Rosenblum. "However, it has also made the cloud opaque, isolating the tenant from the underlying infrastructure. As cloud usage continues to explode, I see our technology developing into something as fundamental as the microscope or the telescope, allowing a tenant to peek into the hidden depths of the cloud infrastructure to ensure their application is being well-served."

Such information is critical in helping companies assess network latency so they can optimize application performance. Already, Clockwork's clock synchronization system and/or Latency Sensei have been deployed by eBay, Wells Fargo, and RBC among others to support such critical functions as accurate timestamping, in-order execution of trades, accurate latency measurements, and other functions in on-prem and cloud environments. As more of the world's computing infrastructure moves to the cloud, Clockwork's technology is proving critical in sectors such as high-tech, online gaming, and cryptocurrency trading.

Clockwork's clock synchronization system, based on foundational research conducted at Stanford University, is the revolutionary core driving the company's technology stack. The system accurately synchronizes clocks on computers in data centers around the world. Representing a 50-year breakthrough, the system can help rewrite a large part of the way distributed computing and packet-switched networking (the technologies underlying cloud computing) are currently practiced. Absent accurate clocking, the architecture of distributed systems has largely followed a "clockless design" paradigm, rendering fundamental operations such as event ordering, state machine replication, fault tolerance, snapshotting, and consistency exceedingly difficult. Latency Sensei is the first of a series of products Clockwork will be launching on top of its clock synchronization system over the next few months.

"I am excited to embark on this journey with the Clockwork team to rewrite the way distributed systems and networking are practiced," said Clockwork CEO and Co-founder Balaji Prabhakar. "As more of the world's business and economic activities are run from the cloud, our technology will have a wide impact, notably in enabling critical time-sensitive applications."

"Network clock synchronization has lacked a reliable, precisely accurate solution for decades—a need that's been exacerbated by organizations' migration to the cloud," said Greg Papadopoulos, PhD, Venture Partner at NEA. "Clockwork's technology enables users to achieve nanosecond accuracy at scale regardless of infrastructure, which eases pain points often felt throughout cloud adoption." Forest Baskett, PhD, General Partner at NEA continued: "The founding team at Clockwork are world-class system builders and leaders in synchronization; we are impressed with their early traction and are thrilled to partner with them to power the next phase of technology for time-sensitive applications—from immediately verifiable financial transitions to faster and more satisfying online gaming and beyond."

About Clockwork
Founded by a team from Stanford University, Clockwork's technology enables time-sensitive applications in areas such as financial trading, high-tech, and online gaming. Being software-based, its solutions can run anywhere: in on-premises data centers, public clouds, or hybrid environments. Taking aim at the "clockless architecture" prevalent in distributed systems and networks, Clockwork aims to redefine a large part of the way these technologies (which underlie the cloud) are currently practiced. Learn more at clockwork.io.

About NEA
New Enterprise Associates, Inc. (NEA) is a global venture capital firm focused on helping entrepreneurs build transformational businesses across multiple stages, sectors and geographies. With nearly $24 billion in cumulative committed capital since the firm's founding in 1977, NEA invests in technology and healthcare companies at all stages in a company's lifecycle, from seed stage through IPO. The firm's track record of investing includes more than 260 portfolio company IPOs and more than 430 mergers and acquisitions. www.nea.com

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SOURCE Clockwork