MongoDB, a database management firm focused on “big data,” has raised a humongous round of new funding –  $150. Red Hat (NYSE: RHT) is a return investor.

The deal values the startup at $1.2 billion, according to Bloomberg News. It has rasied some $231 million overall.

Both Red Hat and MongoDB (the name is a play on humongous, the firm says) are focused on open source solutions with MongoDB focused on “big data.”

Companies are seeking new ways to manage a flood of information on their customers and the markets they serve, aiming to use the data to make decisions in real time. The market for big-data technology and services will grow at 32 percent annually, research firm IDC predicts.

The new funding was announced Friday.

MongoDB says it is “reinventing data management” and claims to be the “best-funded big data technology” firm.

Salesforce.com and EMC are among the new investors in the company. Other existing investors include Intel Capital, NEA and Sequoia Capital.

Funds will be used for further development of its core MongoDB project and in its management service.

“Adoption of MongoDB has grown explosively over the last few years,” said Max Schireson, CEO at MongoDB. “This funding will allow us to continue to invest in the technology and the global operation our customers require. Building the product and company to bring greater agility and scalability to how organizations manage data will require a large and sustained investment. With this additional funding we will have the staying power to make these investments.”

In an interview with Bloomberg, Schireson added: “We’re picking up an increasing share of the market and over time that could become a really significant share. The volume and type of data and the consumer and developer expectations are so radically different than they were when the relational database was invented.”

MongoDB is used in management of operational and analytical big data, content management and delivery, mobile and social infrastructure, user data management and data hub, according to the company.

Formerly called 10Gen, it sells database technology as a subscription, charging about $5,000 per server per year — with support and training included. That differs from the multiyear, multimillion-dollar contracts traditionally used by software providers. The total database market is worth $30 billion, according to Forrester Research Inc.

The company also gives free lessons on how to use its database software. The more programmers that understand the technology, the more likely it is that companies will build applications for the platform, Schireson said. The software has been downloaded more than 5 million times.

The company has dual headquarters in New York and California, an office in Atlanta, and has more than 300 employees worldwide.

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