Datadog Expands Its Horizon: Acquires AI-Driven Observability Startup Metaplane

Datadog, a leading cloud monitoring and security platform, announced on Wednesday its acquisition of Metaplane, an innovative startup focused on AI-powered data observability. This strategic move aims to enhance Datadog’s capabilities in the growing field of data observability.

Details of the Acquisition

While the financial terms of this deal remain undisclosed, Datadog emphasized that this acquisition will significantly accelerate its expansion into data observability. The newly acquired Metaplane will continue its operations under the new brand name “Metaplane by Datadog,” ensuring ongoing support for its current and future customers.

Importance of Data Observability

According to Datadog’s VP, Michael Whetten, data observability is no longer limited to developers and IT professionals; it has become an integral part of data teams’ daily functions, especially as the complexity of workflows increases with the rise of AI applications. He stated:

“By unifying observability across applications and data, Datadog will help organizations build reliable AI systems.”

Background of Metaplane

Founded in 2020 by MIT graduate Kevin Hu, former HubSpot engineer Peter Casinelli, and ex-Appcues developer Guru Mahendran, Metaplane began as a customer success product aimed at analyzing data to reduce churn. After participating in Y Combinator and adapting to the challenges posed by the pandemic, the company shifted its focus to developing tools centered on data analytics.

How Metaplane Works

Metaplane utilizes advanced anomaly detection AI models to monitor data by analyzing historical metadata. Key features include:

• Establishing data lineage within data warehouses
• Notifying stakeholders of data issues through preferred tools like Slack or PagerDuty
• Learning from user feedback to improve alert accuracy over time

Funding and Growth

Prior to the acquisition, Metaplane successfully raised a total of $22.2 million from notable investors, including Khosla Ventures and Y Combinator. As of January 2023, the Boston-based startup employed around ten individuals.

Future Prospects

Hu expressed enthusiasm about joining Datadog, stating:

“Joining forces with Datadog enables us to bring data observability to tens of thousands more companies, while bringing data teams and software teams closer together.”

Market Potential for Data Observability

This acquisition marks Datadog’s second in 2023, following the purchase of Quickwit, a cloud-native search engine for logs in January. The data observability market is projected to be worth $2.14 billion in 2023, with an expected compound annual growth rate of 12.2% from 2024 to 2030, according to Grand View Research. Major competitors in this space include Monte Carlo, Cribl, and Unravel Data.

Challenges Ahead for Datadog

As Datadog seeks to expand its presence in the data observability market, it will face the challenge of differentiating its products from those of competitors. The company’s recent growth, including a better-than-expected net profit, suggests a promising outlook, but its revenue forecast for 2025 has fallen short of analyst expectations.

For more information on cloud monitoring solutions, visit Datadog’s official website.