Observability, the process of monitoring software and infrastructure in production, is growing more complex rather than simpler.
A recent survey reveals that 69% of devops professionals are concerned about the rapid expansion of observability data, complicating the identification of anomalies. Additionally, they face the challenge of managing an increasing array of observability tools.
Software developers Juraj Masar and Veronika Kolejak have personally encountered these challenges. Masar, a serial entrepreneur, most recently worked as VP of Engineering at Represent.com. Kolejak, with a background in biochemistry, has worked in engineering roles at Shopify, Google, and Merck.
Masar, in a conversation with TechCrunch, expressed frustration with the current state of developer tools, which are numerous, expensive, and outdated, and require significant time to master.
To address these issues, Masar and Kolejak launched Better Stack in 2021. This observability platform integrates monitoring, logging, and incident management into one dashboard. It supports a range of functions, including app, website, server, and database monitoring, delivering alerts, scheduling tasks like on-call duties, and utilizing algorithms to standardize metrics from various logs and sources.
While Better Stack is a player in the observability suite market, it faces competition from other companies like Observe, which specializes in handling machine-generated data and logs, and Chronosphere, valued at over $1.6 billion. Other competitors include Pantomath and Honeycomb, which recently received a $50 million investment.
Despite the competition, Masar believes that Better Stack has several advantages over its rivals.
Based in Vancouver, Washington, Digs, a platform designed for collaboration, offers homebuilders, vendors, and eventually homeowners, a virtual representation of a house. The company recently announced an expansion of its initial $7 million seed funding from 2023 by an additional $7 million. Leading this new investment round are the Oregon Venture Fund (OVF) and Legacy Capital Ventures, joined by previous investors such as Fuse, Flying Fish, Betaworks, and PSF, as well as a new participant, Deepwater Asset Management.
Digs CEO and co-founder Ryan Fink expressed enthusiasm about the involvement of experienced investors like OVF and Legacy in their seed round, emphasizing their role in guiding the company through rapid growth. He highlighted the importance of their expertise in scaling consumer technology for Digs’ continued efficient growth and market strategy enhancement.
Fink, along with Ty Frackiewicz, also founded Streem, a company focused on creating virtual home replicas using smartphone cameras, which was acquired by Frontdoor in 2019. Currently, Digs adopts a different strategy, emphasizing document sharing among builders, vendors, and homeowners, utilizing AI and computer vision for better document interpretation. This approach is supported by a modern platform for real-time collaboration and document storage.
Gene Munster, managing partner at Deepwater, praised Digs for elevating the home building and ownership experience, recognizing the team’s use of AI to address everyday challenges for builders and homeowners.
Digs has recently transitioned from beta to full availability in the U.S. and Canada. Its clientele includes both boutique and national builders.
To support its growth, Digs has appointed Jef Holove as its chief operating officer. Holove, who previously led Drop and was involved in Streem, Basis (acquired by Intel), and Eye-Fi (acquired by Ricoh), brings a wealth of experience in leading successful ventures.
Holove describes Digs’ digital twin as encompassing all necessary information for home builders and owners, ranging from structural details to appliance specifications, streamlining home management and improvement with easily accessible, personalized insights.
In 2023, the crypto industry saw a significant decline in venture capital investments compared to the previous year, with a 68% decrease according to PitchBook. Despite this downturn, crypto companies still managed to raise $9.5 billion, although this figure pales in comparison to the $30 billion raised in 2022.
Among the crypto startups, French company Kiln stands out, having successfully completed a $17 million funding round in December 2023. The round was led by 1kx and included participation from Crypto.com, IOSG, Wintermute Ventures, KXVC, LBank, and some returning investors.
Kiln, though not widely known, specializes in white-label, infrastructure-focused products and is a key technology provider for companies like Ledger, Crypto.com, and Coinbase, particularly for pooled staking services in non-custodial wallets.
Staking, a process of locking crypto assets in a blockchain to secure it and its transactions, is incentivized financially as it offers rewards over time. Kiln’s technology plays a pivotal role in this, especially for proof-of-stake blockchains like Ethereum, Polygon, Solana, and Avalanche. Ethereum, which transitioned to proof-of-stake in September 2022, is a notable client.
Kiln’s offerings include a suite of smart contracts that simplify the staking process. Through these contracts, users can easily join Kiln’s staking pools and begin earning rewards. The company also benefits from commissions, processed automatically by the smart contracts. Impressively, Kiln has managed to grow its managed staked assets fivefold over the past year, currently overseeing 1,168,288 staked ETH, equivalent to nearly $3 billion.
Kiln is also a significant player in operating Ethereum validator nodes, being the largest operator with over 4% market share. Their approach emphasizes security and financial performance and is supported by strategic partnerships, like with the Ethereum Foundation, as noted by their head of marketing, Marie Siegrist.
Besides on-chain products, Kiln offers SDKs and APIs for easy integration with its staking pools and operates a significant network of validators. Their services cater to those seeking to incorporate one-click staking into non-custodial wallets, with some clients requesting dedicated validators.
Kiln’s CEO, Laszlo Szabo, expressed enthusiasm about the company’s future, including expansion plans and the establishment of a new office in Singapore. Since its inception, Kiln has raised a total of $35 million, with its revenue growing alongside its total assets under management due to commission on staking rewards.
Google has recently launched a series of new tools for retailers, harnessing the power of generative artificial intelligence to enhance online shopping experiences and streamline various retail operations, as announced by its cloud business in a recent release.
This array of new offerings includes a generative AI-driven chatbot that retailers can integrate into their websites and mobile applications. These advanced virtual agents are capable of engaging in conversations with consumers, providing personalized product recommendations based on individual shopping preferences.
Carrie Tharp, Google Cloud’s Vice President of Strategic Industries, emphasized the rapid evolution of generative AI in her statement in the release. “In only a year, generative AI has transformed from an emerging concept into one of the most rapidly evolving technologies, becoming a crucial element in the strategies of numerous retailers,” she said.
The introduction of Google Cloud’s tools marks a significant milestone in the increasing influence of generative AI within the retail sector. This trend has been gaining momentum, as evident from Amazon’s introduction of an AI tool for sellers in September and the widespread adoption of this technology by retailers during the latest holiday shopping season, often behind the scenes.
Among the innovations announced by Google is a large language model feature designed to enhance the quality of product searches. This feature is currently accessible to a select group of stores, with plans for broader availability later in the year.
Google’s suite of AI products also includes tools aimed at improving customer service systems for retailers and streamlining their product cataloging processes.
The applications of these AI tools extend beyond online platforms to physical retail stores as well, with enhancements being added to Google Distributed Cloud Edge, an existing combination of hardware and software solutions.
This announcement from Google Cloud, revealing the latest advancements in AI tools for the retail industry, comes just before the National Retail Federation’s annual convention set to take place in New York City.