Top Startups
Logz.io Aims to Help the World Log Into the Future
The company’s open code system is an essential tool for programmers worldwide looking to see where they may have gone wrong
Products: machine data analytics platform
Year founded: 2014
Founder: Tomer Levy
Number of employees: 220
Funding raised: $100 million
Investors: 83North, Openview, General Catalyst
Not only is Logz.io not a household name, but even in the field in which it operates it is quite a mystery to anyone who isn't a programmer. For software developers, however, this is a company and product they can't do without. The artificial intelligence (AI) log analysis startup develops an open code system that uses predictive analytics and machine-learning algorithms to detect and process meaningful data in volumes of information automatically generated by computer servers, applications, and network devices.
"If you place an order on Pizza Hut's website or book on the website of British Airways and there is an error, the company will lose money," said Tomer Levy, the co-founder and CEO of Logz.io, incorporated as LogsHero Ltd. "We are helping developers in these companies make sure that everything is working and that when there is an error, to understand its origin."
Logz.io co-founders. Photo: Ryan Frey The coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic presents a golden opportunity for Logz. "We are seeing an increase in the number of clients, and existing customers have also significantly increased their usage. Streaming companies, for example, are using a lot more data these days because of the sharp increase in subscribers," Levy said. He explained that most of the current growth is coming from businesses that have been forced to move online due to the crisis. "Coronavirus caused many businesses who were dependent on income from an actual physical store to transform into a digital business and they need us. It may seem like most of the world is online, but that really isn't the case. There is still a lot of work to be done and coronavirus has hastened the need for companies like ours who play a critical role in the transition to the new world."
Logz raised $52 million in a Series D funding round led by Massachusetts-based venture capital firm General Catalyst in May 2019. One of Logz's main advantages is that its product is based on an open code system that allows coders easy access, in the process, also creating a community and a joint language. That is also why Logz is marketed directly to developers and includes the option of getting started for free or for a very low fee. That is one of the reasons the company continues to add clients even during the pandemic.
Levy said that Logz used its resources to establish a database on Covid-19. "We set up a database, which takes a lot of data from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, and connected it to our system. It is being used by quite a few people across the world."
Levy believes that there is no going back to the reality we knew before the arrival of Covid-19. "If I was used to selling 90% of my books in the real world and 10% online, those numbers will now be reversed. Customers will still want to receive deliveries to their homes. Instead of a process that takes years, and that too only because the CEO ordered it, the move to online-first suddenly became a matter of do or die for businesses."
Levy said that the age of a company is the main factor that determines the success of a move online. "Three young entrepreneurs who want to set up an online food store will do it a lot faster than a veteran company," Levy explained. "There are also some more traditional fields that will find the move more difficult and often don't have the knowledge to do so. It isn't just about technology. The essence of some businesses is that people go to a physical location to meet other people."
Levy has been pleased with Logz's move to remote work due to the pandemic. "Our workflow is very well suited to remote work, especially as most of our employees are programmers who are used to working at home with their laptop and Zoom," Levy noted. "But there is something organizational that changes when you are suddenly not near your employees. We also hired 20 new people just before the pandemic began and they have been working remotely from their first day on the job."
Logz.io was featured in Calcalist and CTech’s 2020 list of Israel’s most promising startups.
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