Rootly Raises $3.2M Seed Funding for SRE Incident Management

Streamlining Incident Response for Microservices with Rootly

As organizations navigate the complexities of modern software architectures built on microservices, site reliability engineers (SREs) are increasingly tasked with maintaining application uptime and resolving operational issues. Rootly, a newly launched startup, aims to simplify this process by offering an incident-response platform directly within Slack.

Seed Funding and Company Origins

The company has recently secured $3.2 million in seed funding, led by XYZ Venture Capital, with contributions from 8VC, Y Combinator, and various tech industry leaders. This investment will fuel the company’s growth and development.

Rootly’s co-founder and CEO, Quentin Rousseau, gained valuable experience as an SRE at Instacart. During his tenure, from 2015 to 2018, he oversaw the scaling of the platform from processing hundreds to thousands of orders daily, ensuring consistent application availability for all users.

Addressing the Challenges of Incident Management

Rousseau observed recurring patterns in incident response workflows while at Instacart. Following his departure, he initiated a side project focused on streamlining this process within Slack.

He later connected with co-founder JJ Tang, who had joined Instacart after Rousseau’s exit. Together, they established Rootly to specifically address the unique challenges faced by SREs during incident resolution.

“Our primary goal is to enable incident management and resolution directly within Slack,” Rousseau stated. “We aim to avoid introducing additional layers of complexity. Recognizing the abundance of existing tools, we believe that during critical situations, a swift focus on resolution is paramount. Therefore, we are concentrating on optimizing the Slack user experience.”

How Rootly Integrates with Existing Tools

The Rootly solution facilitates rapid connections between SREs and their existing toolsets within Slack, including integrations with platforms like Jira, Zendesk, DataDog, and PagerDuty.

Simultaneously, it automatically compiles an incident report based on the conversation occurring within Slack during the resolution process. This report proves invaluable during post-incident reviews and analysis.

Future Growth and Company Culture

Currently, Rootly operates with a small team of under 10 employees. However, the company intends to expand its workforce by hiring engineers and sales professionals over the coming year, utilizing the newly acquired capital.

Diversity is a foundational element of Rootly’s company culture. The founders highlighted their collaboration with Ross Fubini, managing partner at XYZ Venture Capital, as a key factor in this commitment.

“We specifically chose Ross as our lead investor because his firm demonstrates a strong and comprehensive focus on diversity, both within its investment strategy and its influence on portfolio companies,” Tang explained.

Building a Diverse and Inclusive Workplace

Fubini emphasized a two-pronged approach to building diverse companies: actively seeking talent from diverse pools and fostering an inclusive environment where individuals from underrepresented groups feel valued and welcomed.

“A key discussion with Rootly centered on attracting a diverse team and creating a workplace where everyone feels a sense of belonging,” Fubini noted.

Remote-First Approach and Y Combinator Participation

Rootly currently operates as a fully remote organization, with Rousseau based in San Francisco and Tang in Toronto. The company intends to maintain this remote structure even as offices begin to reopen.

Notably, both Rousseau and Tang are participants in the current Y Combinator program.