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Startup aims to meld and manage VMware and OpenStack environments for business customers. Platform9 is a startup built on the premise that companies running VMware VMW 0.04% also want to move to the cloud and ensure that their current vSphere software will work with their cloud deployment, provided they choose OpenStack to run their cloud.

Platform9, a startup that offers a cloud-based service for running the most up-to-date version of the OpenStack open-source cloud software to be deployed in companies’ on-premises data centers, announced today a $10 million funding round.

Platform9, a service that aims to make it easier for businesses to launch an OpenStack private cloud on their existing servers, today announced that it has raised a $10 million Series B funding round led by Menlo Ventures and with participation from previous investor Redpoint Ventures.

My initial reaction to the news that Google is joining the OpenStack Foundation as a corporate sponsor was to shrug it off as not extremely important to enterprises considering private or hybrid cloud options.

Startups are the lifeblood of the tech world — young companies led by visionary entrepreneurs who are willing to bet their futures and their fortunes on emerging technologies.

While many organizations today are considering a move to the cloud, startup Platform9 is offering an innovative approach to enable organizations to use their on-premises infrastructure as a private cloud deployment. Platform9 first emerged from stealth mode in August of 2014 and has been steadily growing ever since.

Depending on the source, private clouds are either going the way of the dodo or they’re growing faster than a bullet train. The reality is that true private clouds, as opposed to merely virtualized data centers, are becoming more popular.

Most of the early-stage technology companies recently participating in the MIT Sloan CIO Symposium’s Innovation Showcase have launched partner programs or are in the process of doing so.