Wasabi Acquires Curio AI to Enhance Intelligent Features in Its Unlimited Cloud Storage Solutions

Boston-based Wasabi Technologies, a data storage startup rivaling AWS, GCP, and other cloud providers, has announced its acquisition of the machine learning platform Curio AI from California’s GrayMeta, a provider of metadata solutions.

While financial terms of the deal weren't disclosed, Wasabi stated that integrating Curio’s technology will allow for the development of a new AI-powered intelligent storage solution tailored for the media and entertainment sector. The new offering is expected to launch later this year, leveraging the intellectual property and Curio team, including GrayMeta CEO Aaron Edell, who will serve as Wasabi’s Senior Vice President of AI and Machine Learning.

What Curio AI Brings to Wasabi

Founded in 2017 by Carbonite co-founders David Friend and Jeff Flowers, Wasabi specializes in “hot cloud storage,” offering a universal cloud object storage service that provides organizations with unlimited data storage and instant access, all without complicated tiers or unexpected fees.

Since its inception, Wasabi has attracted over 40,000 enterprise customers and 13,000 partners, with 13 storage regions across North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. The acquisition of Curio AI is aimed at enhancing data accessibility, particularly for the fast-paced media and entertainment industry.

As studios and creators produce content at an unprecedented rate—over 500 hours of video uploaded to YouTube every minute—efficient workflows to access and monetize this content have become critical. Curio AI addresses these challenges by generating rich metadata from extensive video, audio, images, scripts, and documents, enabling quick and granular searches.

David Friend explained, “A video archive without detailed metadata is like a library without a card catalog. AI can pinpoint faces, logos, objects, and voices, eliminating the tedious manual processes currently required to find specific content.”

Intelligent Storage with Curio

While Wasabi has offered integration with Curio since 2019, the acquisition is set to enhance the AI-powered search and discovery functionality directly within the storage layer. This new intelligent storage solution will be characterized by simplicity, speed, reliability, and affordability.

“With the acquisition…our customers will not only store data but also locate and instantly retrieve exactly what they need,” Friend stated. This innovation aims to help media organizations unlock the value of their extensive content archives.

Scheduled for release in spring 2024, Edell anticipates that this intelligent offering will mark a significant advancement in the storage industry, likening its importance to the invention of object storage. Further details remain sparse, as responses to media inquiries are still pending.

According to Markets and Markets, the global cloud storage market is projected to expand from $78.6 billion in 2022 to $183.7 billion by 2027, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18.5%. This growth is fueled by escalating data volumes within enterprises and the cost-effective, compliant solutions that cloud options provide.