# Krishna Yadappanavar

> Krishna Yadappanavar is a software infrastructure entrepreneur, Kloudfuse co-founder and former CEO, and Springpath co-founder. His engineering work includes VMware’s VMFS and distributed storage patents. Springpath was acquired by Cisco in 2017. His public interviews emphasize customer requirements, data control and the operational cost of observability.

- **Role:** Software engineer, entrepreneur, startup investor and advisor
- **Organizations:** Kloudfuse, Springpath (formerly Storvisor), VMware, Cisco, Veritas, Commvault, EMC
- **Education:** Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research
- **Known for:** Co-developed VMware’s VMFS file system., Co-founded Springpath, acquired by Cisco in 2017., Named co-inventor on US9720619B1 for efficient snapshots in distributed hybrid storage and compute nodes.

## Career timeline

- **1996-2000** — Studied computer science at BITS Pilani, according to Crunchbase.
- **2009** — Acknowledged among developers of VMFS’s core in a USENIX paper.
- **2012** — Co-founded Storvisor, subsequently renamed Springpath, with Mallik Mahalingam.
- **2015** — Springpath emerged publicly with $34 million in funding.
- **2016** — Springpath and Cisco worked together to launch HyperFlex.
- **2017** — Cisco completed its acquisition of Springpath on September 22 for $320 million in cash and assumed equity awards, plus retention-based incentives.
- **2020** — Kloudfuse incorporated; Krishna, Pankaj Thakkar and Ashish Hanwadikar are identified as its founders in company announcements.
- **2021** — Signed January 6 SEC filing as Kloudfuse CEO.
- **2023** — Kloudfuse launched out of stealth November 6 with $23 million in funding, including a $17 million Series A.
- **2024** — Discussed observability with Smart Talk, theCUBE and M.R. Rangaswami; wrote about customer visits in India.
- **2025** — Published a January 13 article about DevOps productivity and mindful AI adoption.

## Achievements

- Co-developed VMware’s VMFS file system.
- Co-founded Springpath, acquired by Cisco in 2017.
- Named co-inventor on US9720619B1 for efficient snapshots in distributed hybrid storage and compute nodes.
- Co-founded Kloudfuse and served as CEO during its 2023 public launch.
- Public author biography reports more than 20 patents.

## Latest updates

- **2025-01** — Published “DevOps Must Optimize Tech Stacks and Streamline Strategy for 2025” in The New Stack.
- **2026-05** — Company context: Kloudfuse introduced version 4.0; this is a company update, not an announcement of a new personal role.
- **2026-09** — Company context: Kloudfuse announced a CloudX award for cloud monitoring and observability innovation.

## Links

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/krishnayadappanavar

---

Profile page: https://yespress.io/krishna-yadappanavar
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-08