Database Management Startup Fluree Snags $4.7M For Blockchain Tech

Fluree, a database management startup based in North Carolina, has raised $4.7 million in a funding round to develop blockchain and integrate it into its database technology, according to a report.

The funding round was led by 4490 Ventures. Also participating in the round was Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund.

Fluree was started by CEO and Co-founder Brian Platz, who said the Fluree database combines graph and blockchain technology to create innovative new ways of querying and storing data.

“The real benefit it provides is immense integrity around the data, so you can prove it has never been tampered with, who put it in there, etc., something you can’t do with current databases or other data management technologies,” he said. “It has the ability to make the data immensely collaborative by allowing multiple parties to actually interact with it and improve security, and it really allows you, especially with how we’ve organized our database, to get better leverage out of the data.”

One concern, Platz said, could be that because of how decentralized data works, the database would be extra slow. However, that depends on how the blockchain is configured. Platz said blockchain is like a spectrum, and there can be choices for the desired levels of speed and decentralization.

“If you want 100 percent decentralization, something like bitcoin, it’s going to be slow. You can’t have your cake and eat it, too. If you need to, you can decrease the amount of centralization. So there’s a spectrum there, and we focus on giving people the knob to adjust that based on what they’re trying to do,” Platz said.

Fluree has 17 workers based in Winston-Salem, and it plans to use the new funding to expand and make more hires. The startup has a free community edition and a paid version with more controls.