Last9 is an India-linked (US and Pune presence) software reliability and observability platform that helps engineering and DevOps teams monitor logs, traces and metrics for microservices.

This Startup Deep Dive explains what Last9 does, how it makes money, who backs it, how it compares with rivals and what could go wrong, using publicly available information. It is educational and not investment advice. Last updated: October 2026.

Last9 in Brief

• What it is: Last9 is an Indian Observability / software reliability SaaS company.
• Who it serves: businesses, institutions, consumers, learners and public-sector buyers.
• Software reliability platform that helps engineering and DevOps teams measure, track and improve the reliability of their software
• Builds a knowledge graph of microservices so teams can view architecture at a high level or zoom into metric-level data
• Positioned as an observability platform for logs, traces and metrics, built for high-cardinality environments
• Funding: About $13 million across two rounds ($2 million seed + $11 million Series A).

Last9 Quick Facts

Figures marked “reported” come from published reports and may differ between sources; “Not disclosed” means no reliable public figure was found.

What Is Last9?

Last9 operates in the Observability / software reliability SaaS space in India. Understanding a company like this starts with three questions: who is the customer, what painful problem is being solved, and why the solution is better than the alternatives. The sections below apply that lens to Last9.

• Software reliability platform that helps engineering and DevOps teams measure, track and improve the reliability of their software
• Builds a knowledge graph of microservices so teams can view architecture at a high level or zoom into metric-level data
• Positioned as an observability platform for logs, traces and metrics, built for high-cardinality environments
• Works with OpenTelemetry and Prometheus-compatible tooling to avoid building separate integrations for each system
• Aims to reduce alert fatigue for site reliability engineering (SRE) teams

The Origin Story of Last9

Every company starts from a noticed gap and a team willing to commit to closing it. Strong origin stories are specific: a clear problem, a founding team with relevant skills, and an early product that real customers could test. Founder-market fit, meaning the team’s lived experience or technical depth in the domain, tends to predict how fast a young company learns.

• Founders: Nishant Modak, Piyush Verma.
• Founded in early 2020 by Nishant Modak (CEO) and Piyush Verma
• Reported as founded across California and Pune; headquarters location differs by source (reports differ)
• First $2 million came in April 2020 from Sequoia Capital India's Surge program and Better Capital

Key Milestones and Challenges

No startup grows in a straight line. Early years usually involve slow adoption, product rewrites, hiring mistakes and funding gaps. In the Observability / software reliability SaaS sector the common turning points are a first paying customer, a regulatory approval, a successful product demonstration or a funding round that lets the team invest ahead of demand. How a team responds to setbacks says more about resilience than any single headline.

• Early 2020: company founded
• April 2020: $2 million seed from Surge (Sequoia Capital India) and Better Capital
• April 2022: $11 million Series A led by Sequoia Capital India with Better Capital and angels
• April 2022: described as the platform of choice at the Indian Premier League
• FY25: revenue of about Rs 21.4 crore, roughly flat on FY24

Last9 Funding and Investors

Funding history shows how much outside confidence a company has attracted and how long it can operate before needing more capital. Figures below are reported and may differ between sources; valuation figures are estimates unless the company has confirmed them.

• April 2020: seed, $2 million, Surge (Sequoia Capital India) and Better Capital
• April 2022: Series A, $11 million, led by Sequoia Capital India, with Better Capital and angels John Kim (CEO of Sendbird) and Gaurav Gupta (SVP at Farfetch); some outlets report about $13 million total including earlier money

How Does Last9 Make Money? (Business Model)

A business model describes who pays, how often and how much it costs to serve them. Strong models show repeat usage, improving margins with scale and acquisition channels that do not depend only on paid spend. Weak models show one-off sales, rising costs and growth that stops when spending stops. For companies selling to businesses, institutions, consumers, learners and public-sector buyers, sales cycles and contract size matter as much as headline growth.

• Usage-based pricing with no per-host or per-user fees, per a review-site listing
• Sells to SRE and platform engineering teams, with customers across the US and Asia
• Control plane for managing telemetry data and its cost

The Numbers: Last9 Financials

Financial figures show whether growth is turning into a self-sustaining business. Small and private companies often disclose little, so any number below is included only if it was found in public reporting.

• FY24: revenue about Rs 21.3 crore
• FY25: revenue about Rs 21.4 crore, total expenses about Rs 25.1 crore, net loss about Rs 3.8 crore (net margin about -17.6%)
• FY25 total assets about Rs 6.5 crore

Market Opportunity for Last9

Market size is easy to exaggerate, so a useful approach separates the total market from the portion a company can realistically reach with its current product and distribution. The main forces behind demand in this sector are rising digital adoption, cloud and mobile penetration, growing enterprise technology spending, government digitisation programmes and a deep pool of engineering talent. Each of these widens the opportunity, but capital efficiency and execution decide who captures it.

• Observability and reliability tooling for cloud-native, microservice-heavy engineering teams
• Growth focus on the US go-to-market

Technology and Product at Last9

Technology is rarely the whole moat, but it drives speed, cost and customer experience. A practical way to assess it is to separate the capability the company controls from the commodity infrastructure it rents. In this sector the important factors are product quality, data and integration depth, security, scalability and the speed of shipping improvements.

• Knowledge graph of microservices
• OpenTelemetry-native and Prometheus-compatible ingestion
• High-cardinality metrics handling

Team and Culture at Last9

Teams are the most important and least measurable asset of a young company. Look at how complementary the founders’ skills are, how deep the second layer of leadership is, and how the company hires and retains specialists. Culture shows up in small repeated behaviours: how quickly bad news travels upward and whether commitments to customers are kept.

• Nishant Modak, co-founder and CEO
• Piyush Verma, co-founder
• Employee counts differ across directory listings

Last9 Competitors: Competitive Landscape

A fair competitive analysis names direct rivals, adjacent players who could move into the space, and the customer’s default alternative. Durable advantages include proprietary data or technology, licences and approvals, brand trust, switching costs and cost leadership.

Risks and Challenges for Last9

• Revenue roughly flat year on year (Rs 21.3 crore to Rs 21.4 crore) with a net loss
• Crowded observability market with larger incumbents
• Third-party financial figures are not verified against filings
• Competition: low barriers to entry and well-funded rivals can compress pricing and slow growth.
• Funding risk: technology businesses often burn cash before reaching profit and depend on investor appetite.

Risk is not a reason to avoid a company; it is a reason to price it correctly and to monitor the right indicators over time. Regulation in this sector is shaped by data protection rules under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, sector regulators, consumer protection law and IT rules.

Last9 Growth Outlook: What to Watch

• Used the Series A to invest in engineering and product and to build US go-to-market teams
• Plans to deepen OpenTelemetry and open-source standard adoption
• Key indicators: recurring revenue, customer retention, gross margin, customer acquisition cost and runway.
• Funding position: Whether Last9 can reach its next milestone before needing new capital.
• Regulation: Changes from data protection rules under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, sector regulators, consumer protection law and IT rules.

Industry Context: Where Last9 Fits

India's technology startup ecosystem is one of the largest in the world, supported by cheap data, a large base of smartphone users, digital public infrastructure and a deep engineering talent pool. Companies now build for education, software, mobility, logistics, agriculture, defence, media and more, selling both to Indian customers and abroad.

Durable technology companies usually combine a clear customer problem with repeatable distribution and disciplined unit economics. Growth funded only by spending tends to fade, while products that customers keep using and paying for build compounding advantages.

For readers new to this field, a useful habit is to separate announcements from evidence. A plan, a partnership or a funding headline describes intent, while a delivered product, a paying customer or an audited financial statement describes results. Comparing the two over time shows how reliably a company turns promises into outcomes.

Bull Case and Bear Case for Last9

An investment thesis is a short, testable statement of why a company could become far more valuable, together with what evidence would prove it wrong. The points below are general to this sector and are not forecasts for Last9.

Bull case

• A large and growing base of digital users and businesses expands the addressable market.
• Recurring revenue and strong retention can compound growth.
• Selling into global markets widens the opportunity beyond India.

Bear case

• Heavy competition can compress pricing and margins.
• Dependence on external funding can force painful cost cuts.
• Regulation or platform changes can disrupt a product quickly.

Lessons Founders and Investors Can Take from Last9

Studying a company in the Observability / software reliability SaaS space offers lessons that go beyond any single firm. The points below are general lessons for the sector and are not claims about Last9.

• Solving a clear, frequent customer problem matters more than adding features.
• Retention and repeat usage are better health signals than sign-ups.
• Disciplined spending extends runway and keeps options open when funding tightens.
• Distribution, not just product quality, decides who wins in crowded markets.
• Building trust through data protection and reliability is part of the product.

How to Evaluate Last9 as a Startup

• Customer clarity: Can Last9 name its customer and the problem it solves in one sentence?
• Evidence of demand: Look for repeat customers, signed contracts or measurable usage rather than announcements alone.
• Economics: Check whether margins improve as volume grows.
• Execution: Compare announced timelines with what has actually been delivered.
• Funding runway: Estimate how long current capital lasts at the present spending rate.
• Regulatory standing: Confirm required approvals are in place.
• Customer concentration: Check whether a few customers account for most of the revenue.
• Management depth: Look for experienced leaders beyond the founders and a stable core team.

The Takeaway

Last9 is part of India’s growing Observability / software reliability SaaS ecosystem. The useful lesson from studying it is the discipline of asking structured questions about customers, economics, advantage and resilience. Companies that answer them well, repeatedly and under pressure are the ones that endure. Readers should treat any single report, ranking or funding headline as one input among many, and should re-check key facts against recent company announcements. Because public information on young companies is often limited, patience in verifying claims is part of good analysis. Public sources can also describe the same company in different ways, so it is worth checking dates, definitions and whether a figure refers to revenue, total income or transaction value, and whether it covers one entity or a wider group, before drawing conclusions. Small differences in rounding, currency conversion or reporting periods can also change how a figure reads. Comparing the same figure across several recent reports helps show whether it is stable or has changed over time. This article is educational and is not investment advice.

• Clear customers and repeat demand matter more than announcements.
• Regulation and capital needs shape how fast a startup in this sector can grow.
• Track a few leading indicators over time rather than one headline metric.

Last9 FAQs: Frequently Asked Questions

What is Last9?

Last9 is an India-linked (US and Pune presence) software reliability and observability platform that helps engineering and DevOps teams monitor logs, traces and metrics for microservices. It is profiled in the Startup Deep Dive series, which explains business model, funding, competitors and risks.

Who founded Last9?

Last9 was founded by Nishant Modak, Piyush Verma, and the company reports a founding year of 2020.

How much funding has Last9 raised?

About $13 million across two rounds ($2 million seed + $11 million Series A). Funding figures are reported and may differ between sources, so readers should check the latest company announcements.

How does Last9 make money?

Last9 earns revenue from its Observability / software reliability SaaS products and services sold to businesses, institutions, consumers, learners and public-sector buyers. The exact revenue mix is described in the business model section and is not fully disclosed publicly.

Who are the competitors of Last9?

Reported rivals include Grafana Cloud, Chronosphere, Lightstep. See the competitor comparison above for how they differ.

What are the main risks for Last9?

Main risks include competition: low barriers to entry and well-funded rivals can compress pricing and slow growth, funding and capital needs, competition and regulation by data protection rules under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, sector regulators, consumer protection law and IT rules. This is educational content, not investment advice.

Related Startup Deep Dives: Wellnest Healthcare — short profile of what is publicly known | EnKash — EnKash: Mumbai B2B payments firm that raised $20M Series B. Browse the full Startup Deep Dive series.

Source

Source: Publicly available data, published reports, industry research, and other credible sources.