nobl9 Raises $21M Series B to Revolutionize SLO Management

Understanding SLIs, SLOs, and SLAs in Modern Software Development

The realm of software development management is often characterized by a proliferation of acronyms. While Service Level Agreements (SLAs) are generally well-understood, Service Level Objectives (SLOs) and Service Level Indicators (SLIs) may be less familiar to some.

The core concept is relatively simple. SLOs represent the overarching targets a team must achieve to fulfill the commitments outlined in their SLA agreements. SLIs, conversely, are the concrete measurements used to validate these objectives and the associated SLAs.

The Rise of SLOs with DevOps and SRE

With the increasing adoption of DevOps practices, these principles – typically integral to a company’s Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) strategy – are gaining wider acceptance. However, successfully implementing them can present significant challenges.

Nobl9 is focused on providing enterprises with the necessary tools to establish SLO-driven operations. Their platform aims to create effective feedback mechanisms within organizations, enabling them to meet their SLOs without excessive compromises between engineering costs, feature development, and system reliability.

Nobl9 Secures $21 Million in Series B Funding

The company recently announced the completion of a $21 million Series B funding round. This round was led by existing investors, Battery Ventures and CRV.

Additional participation came from Series A investors Bonfire Ventures and Resolute Ventures, alongside new investors Harmony Partners and Sorenson Ventures.

Founders’ Experience at Orbitera and Google Cloud

Prior to founding Nobl9, co-founders Marcin Kurc (CEO) and Brian Singer (CPO) collaborated at Orbitera. Singer served as co-founder and COO, while Kurc was the CEO. Following Orbitera’s acquisition by Google Cloud in 2016, both continued their work there.

This experience provided the team with valuable insights into and appreciation for Google’s established site reliability engineering frameworks.

The Focus on SLOs as a Foundational Element

Their subsequent exploration led them to the idea of productizing these concepts. “We concluded that for Kubernetes, service-based applications, and modern architectures, SRE is the most effective operational model,” explained Kurc. “And when we examined SRE, we recognized that SLOs – service level objectives – are truly the foundational component. You simply cannot effectively implement SRE without well-defined SLOs.”

Transforming Reliability Data into Actionable Objectives

As Singer pointed out, adopting SLOs requires organizations to translate their service reliability data – such as uptime or latency – into meaningful objectives. This process is complicated by the fact that this data often resides in disparate databases and logs.

The central challenge lies in defining appropriate SLOs for each organization based on this fragmented data.

Nobl9’s Platform: Simplifying SLO Management

“Organizations often become overwhelmed with the question of how to acquire and instrument the necessary data when discussing reliability goals and risk assessment,” Singer stated. “Our platform directly addresses this problem.

We aim to reduce complex data, regardless of its source or format, to a simple error budget and a trackable, measurable, and reportable objective.”

General Availability and Early Customer Adoption

The company’s platform achieved general availability last week, following a beta program initiated the previous year. Brex and Adobe are among the early adopters of the Nobl9 platform.

Funding Round Classification and Future Plans

Kurc described the new funding round as effectively a Series A, despite being designated as a Series B due to the size of their previous $7.5 million Series A round. “It’s difficult to categorize. Based on revenue milestones, we are pre-revenue, having just launched the GA product,” Singer clarified. “However, considering the maturity of the product and the company, we believe a Series B designation is more appropriate.”

The round was finalized at the end of last November. Rather than seeking new venture capital firms, the company opted to expand participation from its existing investors, including those who were previously unsuccessful in securing funding during the Series A round.

The newly acquired funds will be allocated to advancing the product roadmap and expanding the team, with a particular focus on bolstering sales, marketing, and customer success initiatives.