Liqid, a composable data center infrastructure startup, raises $100 million in funding to scale modular, software-defined infrastructure for hyperscale operators.

Liqid Inc., a composable data center infrastructure startup, closed on a $100 million Series C funding round aimed at bringing cloud-like speed, flexibility and efficiency to on-premises data centers. The round was co-led by Lightrock and affiliates of DH Capital, with additional participation from current investors Panorama Point Partners and Iron Gate Capital.

Liqid has developed an artificial intelligence-based software platform called Liqid Matrix that enables companies to manage their on-premises data center resources more efficiently. Composable infrastructure refers to the decoupling of resources from the hardware they reside on, pooling them into a form easily accessible from anywhere in the data center, and then provisioning workloads with exactly the amount of resources they need via software. So compute, storage and network devices are all treated as pools of resources that can be chopped up as needed. This approach is similar to public cloud in that resource capacity is requested and provisioned from shared capacity, with the key difference being that composable infrastructure sits on-premises in an enterprise data center.

Liqid argues that composable infrastructure is key to improving business agility, contending that on-premises data center architectures are configured too rigidly and unable to accommodate the demands of modern, AI-centric workloads. The company claims its software can boost data center utilization rates by a factor of two or three when compared to traditional static architectures. Liqid's customer list includes Dell Technologies Inc., Nvidia Corp., Broadcom Corp., Intel Corp. and the U.S. Department of Defense.

DH Capital Partner and Managing Director Marty Friedman stated that "Liqid software enables enterprises and data center operators to do more with less. Liqid's software and solutions support ongoing growth and productive innovation for public and private organizations alike, while also reducing waste and inefficiency." The company plans to use the funding to scale its operations by expanding its sales, marketing, operations and support teams, while accelerating its software development roadmap.

Constellation Research Inc. analyst Holger Mueller affirmed the market opportunity, noting that "composable architectures are becoming critical and it is good to see more capital flowing in the space," and added that "Liquid is making the right moves, eyeing further global expansion and putting R&D high on its investment list."