Opscode founder Jesse Robbins, left, handed the CEO reins to tech veteran Mitch Hill, right last year.

Cloud infrastructure automation startup Opscode continues to grow at a rapid pace, announcing today that it is expanding operations in Europe and Asia. The Seattle startup has been on an accelerated growth path in recent months, nearly doubling its staff since closing its $19.5 million venture capital round from Ignition Partners, Draper Fisher Jurvetson and others in the Spring.

The company now counts 70 employees, up from about 40 in March. And the latest expansion in Europe and Asia will likely add to that total.

The company is already exploring an office expansion at its headquarters in Seattle.

But some of that new growth also will occur overseas, with Opscode saying it now has nearly 50 customers in Europe, including communications firm Imagination and software provider Digital Science.

“With today’s launch of operations in (Europe, Middle East and Africa) and Japan, Opscode is well-positioned with experienced personnel and partners to capitalize on the market opportunity ahead,” said CEO Mitch Hill.

Leading the European operations is Andy Hawkins, the technical director who is based in the United Kingdom. The company said that the European market now accounts for more than 25 percent of the registered users in Opscode’s Chef open source community.

Opscode and its Chef platform is currently used by companies that are managing thousands of servers in mixed environments, from Linux to Windows to proprietary software. The software is designed to help developers more easily iterate and roll out change across different environments.

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