FOSTER CITY, Calif., Jan. 22, 2025 – GridGain®, provider of a leading real-time data storage, processing, and analytics platform, today announced the appointment of Mark Lockareff as President and CEO amid continued strong momentum across all areas of the business.
Veteran CEO and venture capital investor, Lockareff has spent the last 25 years growing, leading, and investing in disruptive technology companies in the SaaS, enterprise infrastructure, big data, storage, and cloud markets. Over his career, he has served as CEO at multiple companies including Nexenta, Paraccel, Agiliance, and Apptera, and has led and supported venture capital investments in Acopia, AmberPoint, AudienceScience, Facebook, Kanisa, Lyten, Model N, ProofPoint, Quigo, Riverbed, and Softricity. He was first introduced to GridGain in 2013 through his relationship with Almaz Capital Partners, an early investor in GridGain.
Lockareff’s appointment punctuates a banner year for GridGain, which saw record sales and unprecedented growth of its GridGain Real-Time Data Platform in 2024. Average annual recurring revenue per customer increased by 29%, driven by higher-value deals and customer growth. Average annualized booking deal size for the company’s real-time data platform grew by approximately 20%. The number of customers purchasing over $1 million in software and services from GridGain rose by 38%, highlighting deeper penetration and trust among key accounts. And GridGain achieved a gross retention rate of 97%, demonstrating exceptional customer satisfaction.
“The data infrastructure and data analytics markets are experiencing explosive growth, driven by the increasing demand for real-time insights, as well as the rise of AI and cloud computing,” said Lockareff. “GridGain’s continued strong growth reflects the value and inherent innovation of its platform, as well as its ability to consistently execute in all areas of operations. I am extremely excited to step into the CEO role during this critical moment in the industry and work closely with this talented team to accelerate growth, solidify our position as the dominant real-time data platform technology provider, and continue innovating our market.”
“Mark’s vast investment and operational experience and his deep understanding of key markets relevant to GridGain make him the ideal executive to propel GridGain forward at this stage of growth,” said Geoffrey Baehr, GridGain board member and General Partner at Almaz Capital. “His track record of successful, decisive leadership and his clear vision for GridGain’s future will ensure the company’s continued expansion and long-term success.”
In addition to its outstanding financial performance, in 2024 GridGain released version 9 of the GridGain Real-Time Data Platform, delivering enhanced support for multiple data formats, models, and data stores. The company also received broad industry recognition, including ranking #25 on the Silicon Valley Business Journal’s Fastest Growing Private Companies list, being Certified™ as a Great Place To Work® in the United States, and receiving a Silver Stevie Award in the “Company of the Year – Computer Software” category.
About GridGain
GridGain is a leading real-time data platform by the original creators of Apache Ignite. It enables a simplified and optimized data architecture for enterprises that require extreme speed, massive scale, and high availability from their data ecosystem. GridGain’s distributed memory-first architecture and colocated compute deliver data processing and analytics at millisecond latencies, with configurable disk-based persistence for added durability. GridGain is trusted by companies like Citi, Barclays, American Airlines, AutoZone, and UPS to accelerate their existing applications, speed operational analytics and fraud detection, train machine learning models for AI, and provide fast-access data hubs. To learn more, please visit www.gridgain.com.
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CONTACT:
Brigit Valencia
For GridGain Systems
Brigit@compel-pr.com
360.597.4516
GridGain is a trademark or registered trademark of GridGain Systems, Inc. All other product and company names herein may be trademarks of their registered owners.