Fly.io
Fly.io is a developer-focused public cloud that enables applications to run closer to users globally. They provide a platform for deploying full-stack apps and databases with instant VM instantiation and global edge deployment.
Founding Story
Founded in 2017 by Kurt Mackey and co-founders to improve how dynamic applications are delivered at the edge. Mackey believed traditional Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) were flawed for this purpose and wanted to run applications closer to users by deploying physical hardware in co-location facilities rather than building on top of other public clouds. The company has been building the platform since 2017.
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Leadership
Founders
Kurt Mackey
CEO and Co-Founder. Previously founded Compose (formerly MongoHQ), a database-as-a-service company that was acquired by IBM in 2015. Also helped build Ars Technica.
Jerome Gravel-Niquet
CTO and Co-Founder. Has been working in web development since age 13. Previously worked as a web developer at Planbox and Demandforce.
Michael Dwan
Co-Founder and VP of Engineering/Principal Engineer (2018-2024). Previously worked as Product Manager for Photos at Dropbox. Currently at Replicate.
Thomas Ptacek
Co-Founder and Developer. Security expert and well-known in the tech community.
Executive Team
Kurt Mackey
CEO and Co-Founder
Previously founded Compose (MongoHQ) which was acquired by IBM in 2015. Also helped build Ars Technica.
Jerome Gravel-Niquet
CTO and Co-Founder
Been working in web development since age 13. Previously at Planbox and Demandforce.
Business Model
Revenue Model
Pay-as-you-go usage-based pricing for compute, storage, and networking resources. Customers are billed monthly based on actual usage of VMs, persistent volumes, GPUs, bandwidth, and other services. Also offers support plans and enterprise contracts.
Pricing Tiers
No fixed plans - charges based on actual consumption of compute (by CPU/memory/second), storage (per GB), bandwidth, and other resources. Free tier available for hobby usage.
Includes guaranteed support response times and priority assistance
HIPAA-compliant workloads with BAAs and SOC2 attestation
Reserve compute resources in advance for 40% discount on standard pricing
Custom resource configurations, SLA requirements, emergency support, and dedicated account management
Target Markets
- Individual developers and indie hackers
- Startups and small teams
- Developer tool companies
- Managed database providers
- AI/ML companies
- Gaming companies
- Full-stack web applications
- Edge computing and CDN replacement
- Globally distributed applications
- Real-time applications requiring low latency
- AI agent deployment and sandboxing
- AI-generated code execution
- Supabase
- Tailscale
- Tigris
- Upstash
History & Milestones
Launched dashboard feature to deploy apps directly from UI
Launch of Sprites.dev - durable cloud computers for AI agents with checkpoint/restore capabilities
GPU support launched and made available to all users
Switched to Pay-As-You-Go pricing model
Raised $70M Series C led by EQT Ventures at $467M valuation
2 AI Tools by Fly.io
Fly.io
14dCloud platform for deploying apps globally with hardware-virtualized containers that launch instantly and run near users.
Sprites
2moHardware-isolated execution environments for running arbitrary code in persistent Linux VMs with checkpoints and granular billing.
