May 17, 2024 • 2 min read
Highlight Pod #10: Kraft.cloud co-founder Felipe Huici
Unikraft
The world of cloud computing is being reimagined by a new startup called Unikraft. Their core innovation is the "unikernel" - a lightweight, highly specialized virtual machine that contains only the minimal components required to run a given application. Unlike traditional virtual machines that bundle the entire operating system, unikernels strip away unnecessary bloat, resulting in vastly improved performance and faster start-up times measured in milliseconds rather than minutes.
Kraft.cloud
Unikraft has built a cloud platform called Kraft.cloud that hosts applications deployed as unikernels. Using standard Docker containers as the basis, the platform transforms the containerized app into an ultra-lean unikernel VM optimized for that specific workload. This allows Kraft.cloud to achieve game-changing capabilities like true "scale-to-zero" where apps become inactive within 500ms of idleness and quickly restore state in under 100ms when new traffic arrives - completely eliminating cold starts. With seamless Docker compatibility, performance gains of orders of magnitude over traditional cloud VMs, and pricing designed for cost-efficient idleness, Unikraft may have invented the cloud architecture of the future.
