# Maxim Melamedov

> Maxim Melamedov is the CEO and co-founder of Zesty, a Palo Alto-based cloud infrastructure optimization platform that has raised $124M to help enterprises slash cloud costs through AI-driven autoscaling. Born in the Soviet Union, raised in Israel, and now operating out of Silicon Valley, Melamedov built Zesty from a 2019 insight - that 30-40% of cloud infrastructure sits idle while companies pay full price. With products spanning Kubernetes optimization, compute rightsizing, and commitment management, Zesty now manages billions in cloud waste across 1,000+ accounts for enterprise customers including Wiz, Armis, and WalkMe.

- **Role:** CEO and Co-Founder at Zesty
- **Organizations:** Zesty, Gimmonix
- **From:** Soviet Union
- **Nationality:** Israeli-American
- **Education:** Bachelor of Arts in Business Management and Marketing, University of Derby, Practical Engineering in Electrical and Electronics Engineering, ORT Colleges
- **Known for:** Built Zesty from zero to $124M in total funding in approximately 5 years, Grew Zesty customer base by 127% in a single year, Tripled revenue between Series A and Series B funding rounds

## Career timeline

- **early career** — Served in the Israeli Air Force
- **early career** — Worked in homeland security
- **2017** — Joined Gimmonix as VP of Customer Success; built 3 teams managing $5M ARR
- **2018** — Left Gimmonix after identifying the cloud infrastructure inefficiency problem
- **2019** — Co-founded Zesty with Alexey Baikov (CTO)
- **2020** — Raised $6.6M seed round led by S Capital
- **2021** — Raised $35M Series A led by Next47
- **2022** — Raised $75M Series B led by B Capital and Sapphire Ventures; customer base grew 127%
- **2024-11** — Acquired Qubex to bring HiberScale technology to the Kompass Kubernetes platform; announced Merger/Acquisition funding event
- **2026** — Zesty recognized as 'Progressive Company' in MarketsandMarkets 360Quadrant for Cloud FinOps Market

## Achievements

- Built Zesty from zero to $124M in total funding in approximately 5 years
- Grew Zesty customer base by 127% in a single year
- Tripled revenue between Series A and Series B funding rounds
- Managed billions in cloud waste across 1,000+ enterprise accounts
- Completed strategic acquisition of Qubex in November 2024
- Attracted investors including Sapphire Ventures, B Capital, Samsung Next, Next47, S Capital, Centana Growth Partners
- Launched Kompass - automated Kubernetes optimization platform with 5x faster node deployment
- Zesty recognized as Progressive Company in MarketsandMarkets Cloud FinOps 360Quadrant (2026)
- Achieved AWS Advanced Technology Partner status
- Scaled team from founding to 150+ employees

## Latest updates

- **2026-01** — Zesty recognized as a 'Progressive Company' in MarketsandMarkets 360Quadrant for the Cloud FinOps Market
- **2024-11** — Zesty acquired Qubex and launched Kompass, its automated Kubernetes optimization platform with HiberScale technology enabling 5x faster node deployment and up to 70% cost savings

## Links

- Website: https://zesty.co
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/maximmelamedov
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/zesty_co
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/zestyhq

---

Profile page: https://yespress.io/maxim-melamedov
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-05-16