Edgeless Systems GmbH, a startup using confidential computing technology to make Kubernetes clusters more secure, today announced that it has raised $5 million in funding.

SquareOne led the seed funding round. It was joined by multiple angel investors, including the founders of Netlify Inc., a developer tooling startup valued at $2 billion in 2021.

Many server processors from Intel Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. support a technology called confidential computing. The technology makes it possible to isolate a part of a server’s memory using encryption algorithms. Such isolated memory pools, which are also known as confidential computing environments or CCEs, can be used to store sensitive application data during processing. 

A CCE is accessible only to the application to which it’s assigned. Other workloads that run on the same server as that application does can’t use its isolated memory pool. Moreover, the underlying operating system and hypervisor likewise don’t have access. 

For added measure, CCEs include a feature known as remote attestation. It allows companies to ensure that a CCE is configured correctly before using it to process sensitive data. 

Germany-based Edgeless Systems has developed an open-source confidential computing platform called Constellation. According to the startup, Constellation allows companies to deploy Kubernetes clusters in an isolated CCE memory environment. Isolating a Kubernetes cluster from the rest of a company’s infrastructure makes it more difficult for hackers to target. 

Constellation supports all the major cloud platforms. According to Edgeless Systems, the platform can be deployed with a few commands and doesn’t require developers to make major code changes to existing workloads.

“We are turning the public cloud into everyone’s private cloud,” said Edgeless Systems Chief Executive Officer Felix Schuster. “By encrypting data all the time, even at runtime, and providing the best possible protection against infrastructure-based threats like malicious admins or co-tenants, Edgeless Systems can transform the way developers build and secure their public cloud workloads.” 

Edgeless Systems offers Constellation alongside a number of other tools designed to make CCE technology easier for developers to use. 

One of the startup’s products is MarbleRun, a tool for managing workloads in CCE-powered Kubernetes clusters. MarbleRun can create encrypted network connections between workloads, as well as check their security settings to ensure they’re configured correctly. If a software component experiences an outage, the tool can restore it automatically.

For managing application data, Edgeless Systems offers EdgelessDB. It’s an open-source database built specifically to run in confidential computing environments. The startup has also built a software development kit, EGo, that makes it easier to build confidential computing applications in the Go programming language.

Edgeless Systems says its software is used by hundreds of developers at companies such as Intel, IBM Corp. and Robert Bosch GmbH. The startup will use its newly announced new funding round to further grow market expansion. As part of the effort, Edgeless Systems intends to expand its sales and marketing teams as well as invest in the development of new features. 

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