In an innovative push towards redefining cloud computing, Hive has successfully secured €12 million in Series A funding, led by SC Ventures, the visionary arm of Standard Chartered focused on fintech investments and ventures. This significant financial boost marks a pivotal step in Hive’s mission to democratize and greenify the cloud computing landscape, leveraging the world’s vast reserves of dormant device power.

Hive stands at the forefront of a transformative shift away from conventional centralized cloud infrastructures, which rely heavily on large physical data centres. These traditional setups not only incur hefty costs but also contribute significantly to global energy consumption. According to recent statistics, data centres guzzled down an astonishing 7.4 Gigawatts of power in 2023, evidencing a 55% hike from the previous year, and are responsible for up to 3% of worldwide electricity use. With such figures expected to escalate, the imperative for more sustainable alternatives has never been clearer.

Enter Hive’s revolutionary approach: a distributed cloud model that taps into the underused hard drive and computing capacities of individual devices across the globe. This method not only promises to slash cloud-related expenses for businesses but also aims to mitigate the environmental impact of cloud services. By harnessing over 70% of the unused computing power lying latent in billions of internet-connected devices, Hive is crafting what it dubs ‘The Right Cloud’. This initiative pledges a more resilient, secure, and equitable cloud computing solution, importantly, one that leans heavily towards sustainability.

Since its inception in October 2023, Hive has attracted a robust community of over 25,000 active users and contributors from 147 countries. This burgeoning network supports Hive’s distributed cloud by offering up spare hard drive space to hiveNet, which in return, enables contributors to benefit from reduced subscription costs. Additionally, hiveNet’s vast collective computing power fuels hiveCompute, assisting companies in managing heavy-duty tasks like GenAI inference, video processing, and 3D modelling efficiently.

December saw Hive broadening its horizons with the introduction of the Joint Development Partner (JDP) initiative, aimed at co-innovating the cloud computing sphere alongside key stakeholders to better serve businesses employing GenAI LLM computations.

Backing this venture, Alex Manson of SC Ventures lauds Hive’s distributed cloud technology as a game-changer in providing more accessible, cost-effective computational power. Similarly, Stéphanie Hospital, Founder & CEO at OneRagtime, champions Hive’s pioneering distributed cloud model for making cloud computing more secure, affordable, and efficient for all.

The fresh injection of capital will be instrumental in aiding Hive’s ambitious expansion plans. With a focus on further developing its product, building a more vibrant community of Hivers, and amplifying sales and marketing initiatives, Hive is earnestly working towards making distributed cloud computing a reality for the masses. This entails targeting the enterprise market, with a special focus on startups and SMBs. By providing easy-to-implement solutions that substantially minimize environmental impacts, Hive is charting a course towards a more sustainable and inclusive technological future.