Joyent, a global provider of cloud computing software and services, on Monday announced it has completed an $85 million funding round, with European group Weather Investment II providing the majority of the round. Weather II was advised by Accelero Capital, an investment and management group. Both Weather II and Accelero focus on telecommunication and related media and technology companies that clearly hold promise in the rapidly and profoundly changing telecom and enterprise markets worldwide.

Telefónica Digital, the growth arm of global telecom leader Telefónica, is also participating as a strategic investor. Cloud-based services are a key focus area for Telefónica's new Digital unit, and Joyent's technology expertise in this area will help Telefónica enhance its product offering.

Existing Joyent investors include El Dorado Ventures, Epic Ventures, Greycroft Partners, Intel Capital, and Liberty Global.

"We believe that Joyent's unique approach to cloud and systems solutions provides an edge compared to other providers," said Khaled Bichara, co-CEO of Accelero Capital. "We are delighted to make this strategic investment in a company that is providing solutions to some of the toughest problems in cloud computing, such as cloud performance, resiliency and security, thereby unleashing the full potential of the next generation of computing."

"This investment is further proof of our ambition in the area of cloud services and is in line with our strategy of working with leaders like Joyent, which is poised to vastly improve the way computing is carried out worldwide," said Matthew Key, Chairman & CEO, Telefónica Digital. "Joyent's technology fits perfectly with technologies developed in-house and our cloud services model, and enables us to provide more competitive offerings to a broader range of customer segments."

Throughout 2012 Joyent will roll out a collection of seamlessly connected high performance public clouds that serve global corporations with consistent computing services on every continent.

"Having worked with customers around the world, we see the demand for consistent global services regardless of how many countries our customers are operating in," said David Young, CEO and founder of Joyent. "This funding will enable Joyent to build out a global compute offering to assist customers in expanding consistent software, support and services to their clients."

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