Highlights:

  • Observe offers a cloud-based platform capable of analyzing the diagnostic data produced by a company’s applications, leveraging it to identify technical issues.
  • The company has integrated its observability platform with a specialized query language, OPAL.

The creator of a platform for application observability featuring an integrated chatbot, Observe Inc., has secured a USD 115 million funding round spearheaded by Sutter Hill Ventures.

Snowflake Ventures, along with Capital One Ventures and Madrona Ventures, also joined in the investment. Observe reports that it concluded its Series B round at a valuation tenfold higher than its previous round. A leading media house states that the company is now valued between USD 400 million and USD 500 million.

Observe offers a cloud-based platform capable of analyzing diagnostic data produced by a company’s applications to identify technical issues. For instance, it can detect occurrences such as an e-commerce platform’s checkout page becoming unavailable. Once Observe pinpoints a technical issue, software teams can utilize a suite of integrated troubleshooting tools to determine its underlying cause.

Examining the diagnostics data, also known as telemetry, of applications can pose challenges as engineers need to consider the timestamp of the data creation. For instance, tracing the root cause of a sequence of outages in January necessitates accessing the logs generated within that specific month. Observe highlights the complexity of accommodating the time-sensitive aspect of telemetry data using conventional analytics tools.

The corporation has integrated its observability platform with a bespoke query language called OPAL to tackle this issue. According to Observe, this syntax streamlines numerous time-related processes inherent in telemetry analysis. Additionally, an AI-driven chatbot named O11y, developed by OpenAI, offers users assistance in navigating OPAL and other associated Observe functionalities.

Software teams have the option to engage with their data via an intuitive drag-and-drop interface. Observe transforms applications’ logs, metrics, and traces into graphical representations, emphasizing critical details such as workload latency. A functionality known as Live Mode enables the immediate visualization of freshly ingested data points, facilitating administrators in promptly identifying technical issues.

Behind the scenes, Observe consolidates the telemetry it gathers into a data lake. It arranges this telemetry into a graph, a structured data format that facilitates establishing connections between related pieces of information. These connections streamline the process for administrators to locate pertinent information regarding a technical issue during troubleshooting.

Utilizing its graph-based data lake, Observe not only offers a comprehensive overview of a specific malfunction but also identifies the systems it impacts. Additionally, the platform assesses the urgency of technical issues to assist engineers in prioritizing their remediation efforts. With the capability to retain ingested data for over a year, users can analyze malfunctions within the context of similar incidents that may have occurred previously.

“Observe has proven that it is possible to treat all telemetry data – logs, metrics, traces, and anything else – simply as events and store them in one consolidated database. It is possible to have one language to shape and manipulate that data,” Jeremy Burton, Chief Executive Officer, penned in a blog post.

According to Observe, the recently unveiled funding round comes on the heels of a year marked by a remarkable 171% increase in its annual recurring revenue. Additionally, the company’s net retention rate surged by 174%, indicating how existing customers augment their spending over time. With this investment, Observe intends to expand its sales team to sustain its revenue growth trajectory.