Suborbital Raises $1.6M for WebAssembly Platform

Suborbital Secures $1.6 Million Seed Funding for WebAssembly-Based Compute Platform

Suborbital, the organization developing the open-source Atmo project – a WebAssembly-focused system for constructing scalable server applications – has announced the completion of a $1.6 million seed funding round. Amplify Partners spearheaded the investment.

Angel Investor Participation

The funding round also saw participation from a diverse group of angel investors. These include Jason Warner, previously the CTO of GitHub; Sri Viswanath, currently the CTO of Atlassian; Tyler McMullen, CTO at Fastly; Jonathan Beri, founder of Golioth; Vijay Gill, SVP of engineering at RapidAPI; and Mac Reddin, founder of Commsor.

Launch of Suborbital Compute Public Beta

Alongside the funding announcement, Suborbital has launched the public beta of Suborbital Compute. This offering addresses a growing need for SaaS providers to enable extensibility through developer-created functions.

However, integrating user-defined functions introduces significant security concerns. Suborbital Compute mitigates these risks by leveraging the sandboxing capabilities inherent in WebAssembly – the foundational technology behind Atmos and Suborbital’s other open-source initiatives.

A Broader Vision for Compute Deployment

Suborbital’s ambitions extend beyond simply providing a secure function execution environment. CEO and founder Connor Hicks articulated a mission to redefine how the industry approaches and deploys compute resources.

Hicks’s background includes work on the 1Password platform, where he led R&D efforts for enterprise products. Prior to founding Suborbital, he began exploring distributed functions-as-a-service systems.

From Docker to WebAssembly

Initial attempts utilized Docker, but performance limitations prompted a shift towards WebAssembly. Developing the necessary infrastructure proved challenging, requiring substantial custom code.

“Approximately two years ago, key components began to coalesce,” Hicks stated. This led to the creation of the Reactr project, a scheduler for WebAssembly functions, initially implemented as a Go library.

The Genesis of Atmo

Interest in a purely WebAssembly-based service spurred the development of the Atmo project, which now forms the core of Suborbital’s operations.

Atmo aims to simplify web server application deployment by accepting a declarative description of the application and automatically handling compilation, security, and performance optimization. Users are shielded from the underlying infrastructure complexities.

Leveraging Server-Side WebAssembly

Suborbital is positioning server-side WebAssembly as a means for developers to write code in languages like Rust, Swift, or AssemblyScript. This code is then compiled to WebAssembly and managed by Atmo within a secure, sandboxed environment.

At the heart of Atmo lies a scheduler designed to execute WebAssembly modules with performance approaching native speeds.

Potential to Disrupt Containerization

Hicks envisions a future where WebAssembly on bare metal could supplant containers for many applications, particularly in resource-constrained edge computing scenarios.

Strategic Launch with Suborbital Compute

The decision to launch with Suborbital Compute, rather than a direct “Atmo Pro” offering, was a deliberate one. Hicks believes the market isn’t yet mature enough for a fully hosted Atmo service.

“Widespread adoption is currently insufficient to generate revenue from a hosted Atmo service,” Hicks explained. This realization prompted a search for a viable business model.

Future Plans and Team Expansion

The Suborbital team, currently comprising four individuals, is actively pursuing partnerships. Plans for the coming year include scaling infrastructure and operational capabilities.

Hicks emphasized the need to identify a product that customers would be willing to pay for, ultimately leading to the development of Suborbital Compute.