Sift, a startup founded by former SpaceX software engineers, has recently secured $7.5 million in funding and is on a mission to revolutionize the way machine data is recorded, visualized, and interpreted. The company’s focus lies in automating tasks for customers, particularly those with large satellite constellations, drawing from the expertise of its founders in validating complex software running on complex hardware.
Ex-SpaceX engineers Karthik Gollapudi and Austin Spiegel have raised USD 7.5m to launch Sift, a new telemetry tool-based start-up that has developed a proprietary stack to revolutionize the way machine data is recorded, visualized, interpreted and automated. Sift’s end-to-end telemetry stack increases transparency in machine performance, helping hardware companies across the globe get to market faster, stay under budget, and avoid preventable errors.
Gollapudi, who led several SpaceX Dragon missions, and Spiegel, who led multiple teams supporting high-profile projects across the board at the space industry giant, came together upon recognizing the dangerous room for human error of current telemetry tools. From satellites to submersibles, small miscalculations can equate to costly disasters.
Designed for the rigours of space, Sift’s end-to-end stack allows forward-thinking engineering teams to scale their data infrastructure, easily review data, and automate operations – as the company’s name implies, engineers can now sift through their data to invent new machines and scale easily. Similar to the sieve prospectors once used when panning for gold, Sift’s stack allows engineers to easily locate and interpret the data they’re searching for without complication.
The Sift stack is already used by innovative operating teams in aerospace, aviation, defence, energy and transportation. Regarding Sift, Ben Stabler, co-founder of the autonomous train company Parallel Systems, says, “Our engineering team uses Sift daily to understand test data from our vehicles and iterate on our designs. Sift helps us build a safer, more flexible freight transportation system.”
“We saw so many of our friends leaving SpaceX to build the machines of tomorrow, but they were struggling with the tools available today,” said Gollapudi. “We’re very excited to equip our community of hardware innovators with the tools they need to build the future.”
Sift is backed by leading hardware investor, Riot Ventures, and enterprise SaaS expert Fika Ventures.
