WebSocket Acceleration Startup Kaazing Raises $17 Million To Power Real-Time Communications

Kaazing was founded in 2007 to improve real-time and interactive communications over the web. Its solution to the problem was to back a technology that would enable a “full-duplex pipe” between participants, rather than the legacy infrastructure that required a request and response between two users. It placed its bet on the HTML5 WebSocket protocol, which its founding team also helped design.

Well WebSockets have recently became a standard and as a result is gaining wider browser support. With the market now coming to it, Kaazing has raised a new, $17 million round of financing to attack the nascent opportunity for using WebSocket technology to power the future of real-time communications. Today, the company has 50 employees, but it’s looking to expand that number by another 15-25 employees.

It recently brought Cisco veteran John Donnelly on board to expand its sales and business development channels. Kaazing is also looking to build out its new platform-as-a-service business, as well as to improve real-time communications over mobile networks.

Even with the WebSocket standard just being adopted, Kaazing has built a business out of enabling high-performance web communications for companies from a number of different industry verticals. With the deployment of its WebSocket Gateway, it powers applications for financial services, retail, gaming and entertainment, transportation, and mobile companies. Customers that have already signed up include BSkyB, Cantor Fitzgerald, ITRS, Southwest Airlines, and The Limited.

Previously, Kaazing had raised $5 million in two rounds of funding from TK. It is headquartered in Mountain View, Calif., with additional sales offices in New York City and London.