Checkly Secures $20M in Series B Funding

Checkly Secures $20 Million in Funding for Code-First Synthetic Monitoring Tools

Checkly, a synthetic monitoring company, has successfully secured $20 million in Series B funding, led by Balderton Capital, with additional support from existing investors including Accel, CRV, and Paul H. Müller. Founded in 2020, Checkly specializes in utilizing Monitoring as Code (MaC) and Playwright to help engineers detect and resolve issues at an accelerated rate. The company's innovative approach involves integrating monitoring directly into code repositories to ensure synchronization with the latest code changes, hence reducing downtime and bolstering customer satisfaction.

Checkly's technology leverages automated Playwright scripts to simulate user interactions across more than 20 global locations, providing real-time alerts and detailed insights. This not only assists in the early detection of issues but also minimizes false positives. The company's efforts align with the projected growth of the monitoring and observability market to $4.1 billion by 2028, further solidified by its recognition as a Gartner Cool Vendor in 2023.

The influx of funding will enable Checkly to expand its team and enhance its code-first monitoring platform, thereby reinforcing its total funding to $32.25 million. Colin Hanna from Balderton Capital will also join Checkly's board of directors. Additionally, Checkly is set to launch a new feature named Checkly Traces, which aims to seamlessly connect synthetics with tracing, facilitating faster issue resolution without manual data correlation.

Hannes Lenke, CEO of Checkly, emphasized the significance of incorporating monitoring into code repositories, asserting that Monitoring as Code is the optimal approach for teams to own and automate their monitoring practices. Similarly, Colin Hanna from Balderton Capital commended Checkly's innovative monitoring and observability methodology, recognizing its benefits for developers and businesses.

Key Takeaways

• Checkly secures $20 million Series B funding led by Balderton Capital to further its code-first synthetic monitoring tools.
• Through integrating monitoring into code repositories, average fault repair time is reduced from 82% to under an hour.
• The introduction of the new Traces feature by Checkly connects synthetics with tracing, enabling faster issue resolution without manual data correlation.
• The funding will support team expansion and platform development, enhancing remediation speed and efficiency.
• Checkly's Monitoring as Code approach empowers developers to take ownership of service reliability, thereby reducing resolution time and observability costs.

Analysis

Checkly's $20 million Series B funding, spearheaded by Balderton Capital, serves as a catalyst for its expansion within the monitoring and observability market. This injection of funds bolsters platform enhancements and team growth, crucial elements as the market approaches a valuation of $4.1 billion by 2028. The integration of Monitoring as Code and Playwright not only boosts efficiency but also leads to reduced downtime and improved customer satisfaction. The shorter-term impacts include expedited issue resolution and decreased manual data correlation, while the long-term effects may potentially reshape industry standards for monitoring practices. Investors and tech firms focusing on observability are poised to benefit, while competitors face heightened pressure to innovate.

Did You Know?

• Monitoring as Code (MaC):
  • Explanation: Monitoring as Code (MaC) involves managing monitoring configurations and rules using software development practices, including version control, automated testing, and continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD) pipelines. This integration into code repositories ensures synchronization with the latest code changes, facilitating faster issue detection and resolution.
• Playwright:
  • Explanation: Playwright is an open-source framework utilized for automating web browsers. It enables the creation of scripts that simulate user interactions with web applications, encompassing actions like clicking buttons, form submissions, and page navigation. In Checkly's context, Playwright is employed to generate automated scripts simulating user interactions from various global locations, providing real-time alerts and detailed insights into application performance and issues.
• Checkly Traces:
  • Explanation: Checkly Traces, a novel feature by Checkly, amalgamates synthetic monitoring and tracing. By uniting these two approaches, the feature enables engineers to expedite issue resolution without the need for manual data correlation. This integration enhances remediation speed and efficiency by offering an extensive perspective on application performance and issues.