Heptio
Facts
- HQ
- Bellevue
- Sectors
- Cloud computing, Kubernetes, Cloud-native
- Total raised
- $8.2M SEC Form D filings Total of this company's SEC Form D filings
- Last round
- $8.2M · Nov 2016 SEC Form D
Kubernetes Co-creators Joe Beda and Craig McLuckie of Stacklok Say AI Agents Need New Identity, Permissions and Governance Layers
Joe Beda and Craig McLuckie, co-creators of Kubernetes and now leading Stacklok, discuss in Madrona’s Founded & Funded episode how enterprises face identity, permissions, and security challenges with AI agents similar to early container days and are building governance and controlled-access tools to speed safe adoption. They explain why existing enterprise governance is ill-suited for agents, argue developer posture must precede broad deployment, describe MCP and FDE models, and warn that current architectural choices can create hard-to-reverse consequences.
The Best Infrastructure Moment Since Cloud
Joe Beda and Craig McLuckie co-created Kubernetes, the infrastructure standard that became the default for cloud native computing. Now running Stacklok, they're watching enterprises hit the same identity, permissions, and security problems with AI agents that took the container ecosystem years to resolve, and they're building tools to compress that timeline. In this episode of Founded & Funded, Madrona's Tim Porter sits down with Joe and Craig to talk through what AI adoption actually requires: why MCP is the Docker moment for AI-native applications, how the LLM gateway is becoming a strategic chokepoint for cost, safety, and model flexibility, and…
Seattle Startup Edera Raises $5M Seed to Innovate Kubernetes and AI Container Security
Seattle-based startup Edera, founded in April 2024, raised $5 million in seed funding led by 645 Ventures and Eniac Ventures to develop container security solutions for Kubernetes and AI workloads using a novel virtualization approach. The female-founded company offers Protect Kubernetes and Protect AI products that isolate workloads for enhanced security without requiring special infrastructure.
Pioneer Square Labs Assembles Expert Technical Advisory Board Featuring Seattle Tech Leaders to Support Early-Stage Startups
Pioneer Square Labs has formed a new Technical Advisory Board comprising leading technology researchers, executives, and startup veterans to support its early-stage startups, with a focus on AI and technology innovation. The board includes prominent figures from the University of Washington, Microsoft, Google, and other notable tech companies.
From Creating Kubernetes to Founding Stacklok: Open-Source and Security with Craig McLuckie
In this episode of Founded & Funded, Madrona Managing Director Tim Porter talks to Craig McLuckie, who's most known as one of the creators of Kubernetes at Google. Madrona previously backed Craig's company, Heptio, and was excited to back his latest company — Stacklok. Stacklok is a software supply chain security company that helps developers and open-source communities build more secure software and keep that software safe. Tim and Craig discuss Stacklok's developer-centric approach to security, the role of open source in startups, the importance of open source and security, and they also hit on some important lessons in company…
Heptio Founder Craig McLuckie and Luke Hinds Launch Stacklok, Raising $17.5M for Software Supply Chain Security
Stacklok, a new software supply chain security startup led by Heptio founder Craig McLuckie and Luke Hinds, has raised $17.5 million in Series A funding to help enterprises authenticate open-source code and mitigate vulnerabilities. The platform aims to enhance software development security by bridging enterprise needs with open-source standards.
Seattle Startup Diagrid Raises $20M Series A Led by Norwest, Backed by Microsoft Azure CTO and Kubernetes Co-founder
Seattle startup Diagrid, co-founded by former Microsoft engineers who created the Dapr project, raised $20 million in a Series A led by Norwest Venture Partners to provide managed Dapr on Kubernetes services. The company’s software supports cloud-native applications and has backing from prominent industry figures including Microsoft Azure CTO Mark Russinovich and Kubernetes co-founder Joe Beda.
Madrona Venture Group raises $120M Fund VII Extension to support 10–12 portfolio companies from its 2018 $300M fund
Madrona Venture Group has raised a $120 million Fund VII Extension Fund from prior investors to provide follow-on capital for 10–12 companies from its 2018 $300 million Fund VII, responding to larger, faster rounds in today’s frothy venture market.
Tim Porter
Tim Porter, Managing Director at Madrona Venture Group, discusses how the venture capital firm operates, what a day in the life of a VC looks like, what he looks for in a founder, and funding female founders. Prior to joining Madrona in 2006, Tim attended MIT and Stanford Business School and worked at Teledesic and Microsoft. His passion about very early stage companies makes him a perfect fit for his current role, where he focuses on investing in B2B software companies in the Pacific Northwest. Some of Tim’s companies include Heptio, Highspot, Algorithmia and Lattice Data. Beyond talking about his…
Heptio CTO Joe Beda: Moving to AWS Won’t Make You ‘Netflix’ — Culture and Dev Practices Must Change
Heptio co-founder and CTO Joe Beda warns companies that simply moving workloads to cloud providers won’t deliver benefits unless organizational culture and development practices are updated to be cloud-native. He emphasizes that legacy processes and misunderstandings about DevOps prevent many established firms from reaping cloud advantages.
