Interview With Alessandro Cillario, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Cubbit
Welcome to another series of founder spotlights with Alessandro Cillario, a prominent figure in the tech industry who is the co-founder and Co-CEO of Cubbit!
As businesses grow, their data management systems must scale without sacrificing performance or security. Organizations face numerous challenges in managing increasing volumes and complexity of data. Cubbit addresses data management challenges with a secure, compliant, and sustainable solution at a lower cost than traditional cloud providers. Let’s hear from Alessandro Cillario how Cubbit stands out as a forward-thinking alternative in the cloud storage landscape, empowering organizations to take control of their data management strategies.
What inspired you to create Cubbit, and what pain point does it aim to address in the cloud storage industry?
We started Cubbit with this question: ‘Is this the internet we want?’ We were just four university students with a vision: bring data ownership back to the people. We saw a growing need for a different kind of internet — one where individuals and organisations had more control over their data, free from the vulnerabilities and risks that come with traditional centralised storage.
Driven by this belief, we raised $25M and built a world-class team of over 60 talented individuals, working tirelessly to reshape the future of data management. Today, Cubbit proudly serves more than 400 organisations worldwide, helping them take back control of their data and ensuring their information is secure and private.
How does Cubbit’s approach to data geo-distribution differentiate from traditional cloud storage providers?
Cubbit is an innovative S3-compatible storage solution with a new data distribution model. Indeed, unlike many cloud storage providers, files saved on Cubbit are encrypted, fragmented, and replicated across multiple locations within geo-fenced networks of the user’s choice. This addresses nations’ specific data sovereignty concerns, helping businesses check all the compliance boxes (e.g. ISO 27001 and GDPR) while providing cost-efficiency, control and data durability of up to 15 9s against ransomware and localised disasters.
Can you explain how Cubbit combines the benefits of on-prem and cloud storage to offer companies a unique solution?
The breakthrough that we bring in the cloud storage market is that the customer not only can save data with the added value of the geo-distribution, but he can also select where to store each chunk according to his infrastructure strategy. Thanks to DS3 Composer, the user can create his own geo-distributed cloud storage in minutes by setting his own rules. Storage resources can be collected from anywhere — public cloud, on-prem, and/or edge servers — and Cubbit exposes them as an S3 object store repository through the SaaS control plane.
Then, you can organise them in geo-distributed networks of your design (i.e., Swarms) and become the master of your own data infrastructure. We have customers that are storing 100% of their data in cloud or on prem, and others that are using multi cloud or hybrid approaches.
With $12.5 million recently raised, what are your immediate priorities for Cubbit’s growth and technological development?
The new funding will enable Cubbit’s to grow in Europe, initially focusing on the DACH, and French-speaking regions, as well as the United Kingdom. The round will also further accelerate Cubbit’s technology adoption, which is rapidly growing in Europe with more than 400 business customers, and is supported by several international partnerships, including HPE, Equinix and Exclusive Networks. We are now closing several agreements with European Service providers, who see in Cubbit the possibility to be more competitive and cybersecure in their cloud storage offering. For example, we recently closed an agreement with the listed company Wiit which will offer geo distributed cloud services across Germany, Switzerland and Italy.
Part of the funding will go towards further consolidation of the application ecosystem around Cubbit’s enabling technology to support vertical projects in various industries, including aerospace, defence, cybersecurity, healthcare, and public administration.
How has Cubbit evolved from its early days as a university vision to being recognized as a top EU deep tech scaleup?
Cubbit started as a B2C project. We raised over $1M through Kickstarter and Indiegogo to build a geo-distributed network of storage nodes. At the time, our main target was individuals. After validating the core technology and completing R&D development on a network of over 5000 b2c nodes, we realised the B2B market was much bigger: indeed, companies need a secure, sovereign, geo-distributed cloud storage as much as individuals, if not more. That’s when we decided to shift our focus and empower companies to take back their data and free themselves from the risks and limitations of centralized cloud storage.
Can you discuss the importance of data gravity and how Cubbit addresses the challenges associated with data growth?
Data is growing at an unprecedented rate, and this rapid expansion presents new challenges for businesses of all sizes. As organisations generate and handle more information than ever before, managing, securing, and storing this data efficiently becomes increasingly difficult—and costly.
At Cubbit, we offer a cost-effective solution designed to meet these modern challenges head-on. Our geo-distributed architecture breaks free from the constraints of centralized cloud storage, empowering companies to fully control their data, infrastructure, and costs. By geo-distributing storage, we provide a scalable, secure, and resilient alternative that helps businesses manage their data more effectively without sacrificing transparency or independence.
How does Cubbit cater to the specific cloud needs of different industries, and what customization options do you offer?
We enable full customisation through our core product, DS3 Composer, which enables enterprises, MSPs, and institutions to compose their own S3 storage in minutes, with full control over their infrastructure, data, and costs. Indeed, DS3 Composer is extremely flexible and not as complex to use as traditional on-premises and S3 cloud alternatives, allowing our customers to completely personalise their storage solutions to meet their specific needs. With DS3 Composer, they can adjust performance settings, configure security protocols, and manage scalability options to align perfectly with their operational requirements. This solution adapts to the unique needs of each organisation, ensuring you have the flexibility to scale without being locked into rigid, expensive cloud plans.
Moreover, DS3 Composer offers customized opportunities for vertical industries. For instance, industry leaders like Leonardo in the aerospace sector have leveraged its capabilities to address their specific data storage requirements. Additionally, our Business Alliance Partnership provides the opportunity to deploy Cubbit’s DS3 Composer on partners’ infrastructures, enabling them to offer their resellers and end-customers a geo-distributed solution in one—or more—specific countries. Partners like WIIT have embraced this model, enhancing their service offerings while maintaining control over data locality and compliance.
This means businesses can future-proof their data management strategy while significantly reducing overhead, allowing you to focus on what truly matters: driving innovation and growth.
Can you discuss the scalability of Cubbit’s platform and how it can accommodate a growing user base?
Our technology is designed to make scaling your data storage as simple and efficient as possible. With its intuitive interface, you can effortlessly expand your storage capacity from just a few terabytes to hundreds of petabytes—all in just a few clicks. Whether your data needs are modest or massive, Cubbit DS3 Composer gives you the flexibility to grow seamlessly alongside your business, eliminating the need for complex infrastructure management.
What sets Cubbit apart is its simplicity. There are no hidden complexities or technical barriers to overcome. You don’t need to worry about the logistics of setting up new servers or managing hardware upgrades. Everything is handled through our user-friendly platform, giving you full control with minimal effort — while our technology automatically manages all the backend.
Can you share insights into how you manage Cubbit’s cap table, especially after the recent funding round?
We don’t have particular insights, but for sure the most important element of the cap table is to maintain a good level of dilutions which maintain the right incentives not just for the founders, but also for all the employees.
Lastly, what advice would you give budding entrepreneurs looking to innovate in tech, particularly in areas like cloud storage?
Engage with your client early and “pretotype”—simulate the benefits of your product without fully building it. Offer a solution that demonstrates value with minimal development. Even a promise can serve as an MVP, if you’re a trusted person.
