6fusion is hiring after raising $3 million

A fledgling company whose software helps businesses monitor and analyze their cloud computing needs and costs is moving to the Triangle and expects to hire about 16 new employees.

6fusion announced this morning that it has raised $3 million in venture capital funding led by Intersouth Partners, the Triangle's oldest and largest venture capital firm. In conjunction with the funding -- 6fusion's first round of venture capital -- the company has decided to establish its headquarters in the Triangle.

"One of the primary reasons is the wealth of [information technology] talent here," said John Cowan, 6fusion's co-founder and CEO. "We listened to pitches from Silicon Valley, Boston, Texas and as far away as Ottawa, Canada."

Founded in January 2008, up to now the nine-employee company has operated as a virtual business with employees based in home offices, said Cowan. 6fusion hasn't yet decided how much space it needs and is temporarily operating out of Intersouth's offices in Durham until it locates suitable space.

The company  previously out-sourced its software development work but its new funding willl enable bringing it in-house. The company expects to staff up to about 25 employees in the next six-to-ten months, Cowan said.

6fusion's software simplifies the metering and billing of cloud computing resources and enables companies to calculate up-front how much they can save in computing costs by switching from conventional computing infrastructures, said Cowan.

The software currently is used by more than 25 IT service providers and their customers and demand has exceeded expectations, said Cowan. He declined to disclose revenue figures.

Two partners at Intersouth, Mitch Mumma and Katrin Burt, are joining the company's board of directors.

"IT managers and service providers are seeking an efficient and simple cloud strategy --- one that can allow for the scaling up and down of cloud resources while maximizing [return on investment]," Burt said in a prepared statement. "6fusion allows partners and customers to access their resources and manage them from anywhere in the world in a seamless, unified fashion."