TL;DR:
- A prominent backer of Lensa AI has divested their stake in Servers.com for a staggering $200 million.
- CloudOne Digital acquires Servers.com, a provider of “bare metal” services with data centers in multiple regions.
- Palta, the company behind Lensa AI, has a diverse portfolio of consumer mobile apps.
- The undisclosed exit price marks a significant financial gain for the backer.
- Servers.com joins the CloudOne Digital-owned “Liquid Web” family of brands, expanding their multi-cloud-based solutions.
- Servers.com co-founders will take on leadership roles within CloudOne Digital.
- Servers.com focuses on “Infrastructure as a Service” for industries such as gaming, fintech, adtech, and web3 applications.
Main AI News:
In a lucrative move that has captured the attention of the business world, a prominent backer of the revolutionary Lensa AI app has recently divested their stake in Servers.com for a staggering $200 million. Although the details surrounding the transaction remain shrouded in secrecy, sources with intimate knowledge of the matter have confirmed the substantial exit.
CloudOne Digital, a prominent player in the digital landscape, has made waves with the announcement of its acquisition of Servers.com. As a provider of “bare metal” services boasting data centers strategically positioned in North America, Western Europe, and Asia, Servers.com has garnered a reputation for its exceptional offerings. The company was co-founded by Alexey Gubarev, a distinguished founder and partner of Palta, the visionary enterprise behind Prisma Labs—the innovative startup team responsible for the groundbreaking Lensa AI app. Palta, renowned for its portfolio of consumer mobile apps, including Flo, a period and ovulation tracker, Simple, a cutting-edge nutrition program, and Zing, an AI-powered personal fitness companion, has consistently demonstrated its commitment to revolutionizing various aspects of daily life.
Insiders familiar with the matter have revealed that this momentous exit yielded an impressive $200 million, cementing its status as a monumental deal. However, both CloudOne Digital and Gubarev have opted to keep the acquisition price confidential, choosing instead to affirm the successful exit without delving into specifics.
Servers.com will now join the illustrious “Liquid Web” family of brands under the ownership of CloudOne Digital. This robust holding company boasts a diverse range of multi-cloud-based solutions, providing clients with unparalleled options and flexibility.
Alexey Gubarev, a respected entrepreneur and permanent resident of Cyprus, founded Servers.com in 2013, followed by the establishment of Palta in 2016 alongside Yuri Gurski and Alex Frolov. Palta has emerged as a “studio”-style investor that fervently supports AI-driven startups and health apps. Notably, the Lensa AI app soared up the ranks of the App Store charts, captivating users with its remarkable “magic avatars” feature.
Lensa AI’s success can be attributed to its strategic utilization of Stable Diffusion, an open-source AI model capable of generating images based on a colossal training dataset comprising billions of images sourced from the vast expanse of the internet. It has been reported that the app amassed a staggering $70 million in revenue in November 2022 alone.
However, the application faced controversy when it was exploited to generate explicit content based on user-submitted images. Lensa AI swiftly responded to the concerns, assuring the public that it was actively working on rectifying the issue to safeguard user privacy and prevent such occurrences in the future.
To oversee the transition, private equity firm One Equity Partners has enlisted the expertise of Servers.com co-founders Nick Dvas and Konstantin Bezruchenko, who will join the CloudOne Digital leadership team. Dvas has assumed the position of President of Servers.com, while Bezruchenko will be responsible for spearheading global infrastructure and procurement for CloudOne Digital.
With its headquarters situated in Limassol, Cyprus, Servers.com boasts an extensive network of 18 global data centers, catering to over 3,000 customers worldwide. The company specializes in providing “Infrastructure as a Service” solutions, tailored to organizations grappling with large-scale, resource-intensive workloads spanning various sectors, including video gaming, fintech, adtech, IT services, sports tech, and web3 applications.
Commenting on the acquisition, James F. Geiger, the esteemed CEO of CloudOne Digital, emphasized its pivotal role in their overarching multi-cloud capability strategy. Geiger affirmed that the integration of Servers.com’s offerings caters directly to mid-market customers grappling with highly persistent and compute-intensive workloads.
In recent years, Alexey Gubarev has emerged as a fervent advocate for the flourishing tech ecosystem in Cyprus. However, due to his previous Russian citizenship and subsequent Cypriot citizenship since 2002, he has occasionally found himself defending against unwarranted accusations tied to his former homeland. Notably, in 2017, Gubarev filed a lawsuit against BuzzFeed in a U.S. court, refuting the implications of his alleged connection to a dossier published about Donald Trump. Ultimately, the lawsuit was dismissed, with BuzzFeed releasing a statement acknowledging its inability to corroborate the allegations.
Conclusion:
The sale of the Servers.com stake for $200 million by a prominent backer of Lensa AI signals significant activity in the market. The acquisition by CloudOne Digital expands its capabilities in the digital space and bolsters its multi-cloud offerings. This strategic move reflects the growing importance of infrastructure services and demonstrates the potential for substantial financial gains in the technology investment landscape. The alignment of companies with a focus on AI-driven startups and cloud-based solutions highlights the evolving nature of the market, presenting new opportunities for innovation and expansion.
