Nuon Inc. said today it has raised $16.5 million in funding to coincide with the launch of an early access version of its novel Bring Your Own Cloud platform for third-party software providers.

Today’s round was led by M12 and saw participation from a host of other prominent backers, including Uncork Capital, Redpoint Ventures, Alumni Ventures, Essence VC, Mantis VC and Red Swan Ventures, plus a number of angel investors.

The startup’s platform gives software companies the opportunity to deliver software-as-a-service-like experiences directly within their customers’ own cloud accounts, combining security and self-hosted compliance with the convenience of SaaS. It’s an innovative new concept for software delivery.

As a hybrid of both SaaS and self-hosted, it aims to address the growing demands of enterprises for compliance, data sovereignty and security. At the same time, it gives SaaS providers the opportunity to attract new customer segments, enhance their product capabilities and grow new revenue streams.

Nuon founder and Chief Executive Jon Morehouse said there’s a big need for such a delivery model. He points out that one of the first things enterprises ask themselves when looking at new products and services is if they can run in their cloud accounts or not. “With Nuon, any company can offer BYOC deployment in minutes, meeting data sovereignty requirements and unlocking new customer opportunities,” he said.

With Nuon’s BYOC platform, SaaS companies can offer their customers a more seamless deployment model that eliminates the need to transfer data to developer-controlled infrastructures. The approach merges the simplicity of SaaS with enterprise-grade compliance and security, making SaaS applications easier to deploy with confidence.

The startup says its platform is built to simplify BYOC, offering a control plane for managing customer installations, plus application programming interfaces and software development kits to ensure easier integration with customer’s existing systems. It also provides support for continuous integration and continuous development, so SaaS providers can easily roll out updates to their offerings without causing problems for customers.

Another benefit of Nuon’s platform is that it supports the tighter integration of SaaS applications with customer data, which has become critical in the age of artificial intelligence.

“We approached BYOC from first principles to create a generalizable platform that existing companies could adopt alongside traditional SaaS offerings,” Morehouse said.

Previously operating in stealth mode, Nuon says it is already powering BYOC scenarios for dozens of AI and data infrastructure companies. Its ambition is to make BYOC become the new standard for software delivery, supporting more innovation and greater security.

Looking ahead, Nuon will use the funds to boost its product development and accelerate its customer acquisition efforts, with plans to launch its platform in general availability by the second quarter of next year.

“Jon’s vision for BYOC will fundamentally transform software deployment,” said Uncork Capital’s Andy McLoughlin. “Nuon is poised to become a generational infrastructure company rivaling today’s hyperscalers.”

Photo: Nuon