FrenchstartupShadow,alsoknownasBlade,justraisedaSeriesAroundof57.1million(€51million).Shadowthinksyournextcomputerisgoingtobeinadatacenter.Yourexistingphones,laptopsandShadow’sowndevice(picturedabove)actasathinclient,awindowintoyourvirtualmachinerunningonabeefyserverinadatacenternearyoukangertechsubtankmini.Shadowhadalreadyraised14.6millionfromaround20businessangels.Thesameonesinvestedagain,startingwithNickSuppipat,Pierre-KosciuskoMorizetandMichaelBenabou.I’vealreadywrittenabitaboutShadow.Thestartupisrunningthousandsofvirtualmachineson800server-gradeIntelXeonprocessorswithadedicatedNvidiaGTX1070foreachuser.It’sonlyavailableinFrancefornow.Inmyowntesting,itworksquitewellalreadyeventhoughyoucanfeelthattheserviceisstillabityoung.Theonlyissueisthatyoucurrentlyneedaspeedyfiberconnection,whichstilllimitsthemarketquiteabitinFranceDisasterRecoverySolution.Youcangetyourpersonalinstanceforaround32.70permonth(€30).Thisisn’tjustagamingplatform,yougetafullWindows10virtualmachine.Sofar,3,500peoplehavebeenusingtheserviceasthecompanyhasbeenacceptingnewusersinbatcheseveryothermonth.Withtoday’sfundinground,thecompanyplanstoacceptalotmorecustomers.“Thefirstthingwe’regoingtochangeisthatwewererelyingonapre-ordersystem,”co-founderandCEOEmmanuelFreundsaid.“Wehavealotmoredemandcomparedtoourofferingoutput.We’regoingtoswitchtoaninstantorderingsystem.”Eventually,you’llbeabletosignuptoShadowanduseyourShadowcomputerthenextday.ThisisgoingtobechallengingasShadowwillneedtokeepupwiththedemandandrolloutenoughserverssothatnewserversarealwaysavailable.Shadowalreadysaidthatitisn’tinthebusinessoflookingatyourdata.YoucontrolyourWindowsinstance,youcanencryptyourdataandShadowdoesn’thaveyourWindowspassword.Butthecompanysaidthatitplanstoprovideitsownencryptionsystemandwritestrongertermsofservicewhenitcomestoprivacy.Onaverage,theseusershavebeenspending2.5hoursperdayperuseroverthelast30days.Bytargetinggamers,ShadowhasbeenfocusingonheavyPCuserssothisnumberisn’tthatsurprising.Butthestartupdoesn’tplantostopthere.Upnext,ShadowwantstosellinstancesthroughB2Bchannelsandtargetlesspowerfulneeds.Eventually,Shadowwantstoreplacecomputersinyourofficeoryourgrandparents’computer.Thoseserversprobablyaren’tgoingtohaveabigNvidiaGPU,butit’sgoingtobringthenextbigwaveofusersyoubeauty.Thestartupwantstoattract100,000clientsbytheendof2018.ShadowisgoingtoexpandtotheU.K.andGermanyin2017,withotherEuropeancountriesfollowingsuit.Foreachgeographicalexpansion,thestartupneedstofindnewdatacentersandsignpeeringdealswithtelecomcompaniesaroundEurope.ThecompanyisalsogoingtoopenanofficeinPaloAltosothattheycantalkwithAmericanpartners,suchasservermakersandMicrosoft.AndI’msurethatthecompanywillneedatonofcapitaltobuynewserversandexpanditsinfrastructure.Whilecloudcomputingforendusershavebeenawilddreamforyears,internetconnectionsmayhavebecomefastenoughtoturnthisintosomethingthatyoucanactuallyuse.Shadowplanstotakeadvantageofthat.