Greta has developed an AI- and Machine Learning-powered software solution to improve load times, increases content quality whilst offloading servers to avoid network congestion

Intermittent website crashing is a headache that dogs online companies. E-commerce, news, and video streaming companies are probably the worst-hit when it comes to site crashing. This often means significant revenue loss and consumer churn, and it may even damage the brand.

As for large companies, they can afford to invest a few thousand dollars to enhance hardware in order to boost the performance of their site. It is the smaller startups, most of which are run on a shoestring budget, that always feel the pinch of site loading or crashing issues. While there are many content delivery/distribution networks (CDNs) in the market, most of them are out of the reach of small businesses.

Swedish startup Greta.io aims to bridge this gap with its software solution.The best part is that here the customer is not required to make any changes to the hardware or in the server. All the customer needs to do is make a few minor changes to the analytics script.

Also Read: Why website speed is a top priority for e-commerce

“The reason we started Greta.io was that we wanted to develop smarter solutions to distribute content with the end users’ experience in mind,” Anna Ottosson, Co-founder and CEO of Greta told e27. “We provide intelligent data routing that optimises content delivery. By analysing network data in real time, our algorithms calculates the most efficient way to deliver any content, including the opportunity to deliver the content by creating a decentralised distribution network out of concurrent users of a site. This improves load times, increases content quality whilst offloading servers to avoid network congestion.”

Greta was incorporated in 2015 by Ottosson (previously worked in the media industry), Dennis Mårtensson (previously built streaming technology), and Victor Ginsburg Müller (who comes from a design and UX background). Greta provides an alternative for developers and companies looking to improve their site performance. The benefits are faster load times for companies within e-commerce and news, and better quality as well as less buffering for streaming companies.

There are many CDNs available in the market, but they invest in physical servers that create a static server network. On the contrary, Greta.io is a software solution that optimises the infrastructure and calculates the most efficient way to route any content, which enables an improved end-user experience. The company leverages cutting-edge technologies such as Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to minimise site crashing issues of its customers.

In her view, Greta often works as a complement rather than a substitute to traditional solutions such as CDNs, as its technology is compatible with any hosting and delivery solutions one already has in place. The way of implementing Greta is also different, as the implementation method has more in common with analytics scripts, such as Google Analytics. One can simply copy paste a script to get started.

The company is currently on course to launch a completely free edition of the technology, as “we want all developers and companies to have access to new technology that provides a better end-user experience.”

Although headquartered in Stockholm, Greta’s target market is Asia Pacific, especially India. “India is one of the markets with the most rapid increase in internet consumption, and at the same time the infrastructure is not improving fast enough to keep pace with the increase in data being distributed in the region. Southeast Asia by and large faces the same problem.”

Started a year ago, the startup has already on-boarded a few clients in the e-commerce, news and streaming industries, not just in Asia but other parts of the globe too.

An innovative startup, Greta has already attracted a few investors. Besides Berlin-based VC fund Blueyard Capital, angel investors such as Jan Erik Solem, Sophia Bendz, Jeremy Yap and Hampus Jakobsson have invested in the company. To date, Greta has raised US$1.4 million in total investment. While it is not looking for another round of inevstment soon, Ottosson says the startup would look to on-board a few Asian VCs to grow the company further in the geography.

A free-to-use solution as of now, the company plans to finance the free version by charging enterprises using its technology. “We’ve always been determined to make our technology accessible for developers and small companies, as access to technology and infrastructure enables innovation and growth.”

The CDN market in India only is expected to increase with 23 per cent CAGR in the next decade and is expected to be valued to over US$2 billion in 2025. The global CDN market is expected to increase to US$23 billion by 2021.

Image Credit: Greta.io

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