Checkly Enhances Software Reliability through Simulations of Real User Interactions

For developers at larger organizations, tracking numerous software development tasks and bug fixes becomes a considerable challenge. A 2024 Dynatrace survey found that 88% of technology executives believe the complexity within their technological environments has grown over the last year, complicating efforts to provide an optimal customer experience.

The market is filled with observability solution providers promising to solve these challenges. However, Tim Nolet, CEO and co-founder of observability firm Checkly, argues that the cost of these solutions can be prohibitive at large scale and often come with hefty fees for additional features, support, and upkeep.

“Access to comprehensive observability and monitoring tools is rare for engineers, and many of these tools operate in isolation,” said Nolet, who established Checkly in 2018 with Hannes Lenke and Timo Euteneuer. “Additionally, the exorbitant cost of traditional monitoring tools is driving the shift towards more affordable solutions.”

Nolet developed Checkly as a side project to aid developers in monitoring app performance and downtime, through a suite of synthetic monitoring services available via subscription. Synthetic monitoring is an approach that involves simulating user interactions with software to assess performance based on predefined metrics like response time and error occurrence.

Checkly can also perform monitoring for APIs, setting up tests either on a schedule or on a continuous basis to identify issues early. It allows using monitoring as code integrated with existing codebases for version control and employs a “traces” function for linking backend issues directly to the generated alerts.

“Our goal is to enable developers to identify and rectify problems up to 10 times faster,” stated Nolet. “With synthetic monitoring, developers are notified instantly when a problem arises, allowing for quicker resolution before it impacts the customer.”

Nolet regards not just the leading observability platforms like DataDog, Splunk, and New Relic as competition but also includes companies like Pingdom, Runscope, and Catchpoint in that category. Despite the competition, Checkly boasts over 1,000 paying clients, including 1Password, Vercel, and Yext, executing 32.5 million checks daily on APIs and software.

This traction has caught the eye of investors.

Recently, Checkly secured $20 million in its Series B financing round, led by Balderton Capital and supported by Accel and CRV. This funding boosts Checkly’s total capital to $32.25 million and will support product enhancement, team growth in their Berlin headquarters, and the establishment of a new office in New York.

“We’re experiencing an upsurge in customer demand for Checkly,” shared Nolet. “In turn, we are eager to expand our market presence and onboard a greater number of customers onto our platform.”