Observe: Adapting to the Ever-Changing Landscape of Software Observability

Established in 2017, Observe serves as an observability platform designed to meet the shifting demands of software observability. As the pace of software releases has surged, businesses have started generating significantly larger volumes of data.

Currently, Observe is addressing the latest major technological shift: AI.

Located in San Mateo, Observe equips companies with insights into their software’s operational health, allowing engineers to more effectively identify and resolve disruptions and outages.

The recent advancements in AI bring both opportunities and complexities for the firm. Observe’s observability solution utilizes AI agents to streamline the identification and resolution of issues for its clients. Nevertheless, the rapid advancements in AI mean companies are releasing software quicker than ever, resulting in a data deluge.

CEO Jeremy Burton discussed with TechCrunch that the continual development of AI agents is making observability progressively more complex.

“In a few years, you’ll have hundreds or thousands of agents on your network interacting with staff or one another,” Burton remarked. “That’s fantastic until something goes wrong, and you have to play detective to uncover the root cause of the problem, you know?”

Yet, Burton highlighted that Observe is advancing in step with industry trends. Earlier this year, the firm rolled out a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server, allowing developers to access their observability data via AI coding tools and LLMs, helping them accomplish their tasks with greater ease.

“We have customers already leveraging the MCP server and exploring some quite innovative workflows,” Burton noted. “They are in their development environments saying, ‘Hey, check out this ticket. Use Observe to investigate the situation, then describe the potentially problematic code and suggest the implications.’ This would have seemed like science fiction just a year ago.”

The organization is also enhancing compatibility with Apache Iceberg, an open-source data table format that allows businesses to manage and standardize their data. Burton mentioned that companies value this approach, and Observe expects to support that format by the end of the year.

In 2024, Observe’s revenue nearly tripled, achieving a 93% gross customer retention rate, though Burton chose not to disclose specific numbers. The company caters to major enterprises, including CapitalOne, Paramount, and Dialpad, among others.

Observe raised $156 million in a Series C funding round, spearheaded by Sutter Hill Ventures, with participation from Madrona Ventures, Alumni Ventures, and various strategic investors, including Snowflake.

The funds will be directed towards research and development, as well as talent acquisition. Observe plans to launch its private preview for Apache Iceberg support shortly.

“We’ve achieved some remarkable things, but I believe we’ve only just scratched the surface,” Burton concluded.