Google's invested in Neverware, the company that turns legacy computers into Chromebooks

Neverware. You may never have heard of them before today. The New York City-based startup has raised a new round of investment led by Alphabet's Google. Neverware has a software platform that converts dead PCs into Chromebooks. The amount isn't specified but it is probably more than the $6.5 million raised in the last round.

Chromebooks started in 2011 and have been steadily gaining popularity and market share. Chromebooks are laptops that run Google's Chrome OS and all data resides in the cloud rather than on any hard drive attached to the machine.

One of the best features of Chrome OS is that it is a relatively lightweight operating system. This allows it to run well on inexpensive and low powered hardware. Neverware makes the open-source version of Chrome OS called Chromium easy to install on ageing PCs or MACs.

Neverware's core product CloudReady is essentially built using the same technology as Chrome OS. This helps it deliver an experience people are familiar with. CloudReady has been ever so popular with the education sector where it has transformed millions of laptops and desktops into Chromebooks at an exceptionally low-cost.

As The Verge points out, "Since CloudReady’s launch in 2015, more than 1,000 school districts across all 50 states, and in 21 countries around the world have used Neverware’s software to refurbish slow and discarded hardware, converting them to Chromebooks".

Now, it has gotten funding from the big daddy Google itself. The investment from Google will see Neverware's stepping stones into their expansion in the enterprise market.

Neverware has been successful in schools and businesses as buying a whole lot of new machines costs a lot of money. So to convert the old machines into ones that work smoothly is a blessing to the finances of these institutions.