New York-based software program agency Astronomer raised almost $100 million from main traders in Could — only a couple months earlier than its CEO, Andy Byron, was caught on the “kiss cam” at a Coldplay live performance snuggling with the agency’s head of human assets.
Astronomer — a privately held software program agency that helps shoppers streamline and set up their information — introduced in Could that it had “secured $93 million in Series D funding” from backers that included Bain Capital, Salesforce, Venrock and Meritech.
“While this is just one step in Astronomer’s journey to build a durable, lasting software company, we’re thrilled to have one of our earliest investors, Bain, leading the round,” Byron stated in an announcement on the time.
“All of our investors are committed to Astronomer’s long-term vision because of our recent momentum, the massive market demand for the platform we’re building, and the macro tailwinds that support our vision.”
To date, none of these traders have commented on the uproar over the viral video exhibiting Byron and Astronomer’s HR chief Kristin Cabot scrambling to get off digital camera — which prompted Coldplay frontman Chris Martin to joke, “Either they’re having an affair or they’re just very shy.”
Different corporations listed as traders on Astronomer’s web site embody JP Morgan Chase, Perception Companions, Sierra Ventures, Sutter Hill Ventures and KS International.
Thus far, the corporate has raised greater than $350 million from outdoors traders because it was based in 2015, in accordance with information from Crunchbase and different funding trackers.
Astronomer’s board of administrators contains Byron in addition to Venrock’s Ethan Batraski, investor John McMahon, Sutter Hill Ventures’ Scott Yara, Sierra Ventures’ Tim Guleri and Bain Capital Enterprise’s Enrique Salem.
The Publish has reached out to the board members for touch upon the video however has but to listen to again. Astronomer has additionally not returned requests for remark.
Some tech insiders joked that the incident, which has spawned numerous memes and jokes on social media, supplied Astronomer with a visibility enhance.
“Board should give him a raise,” quipped Flexport CEO Ryan Peterson. “Without this viral moment, I’d never know that Astronomer is used by enterprise clients to manage apache airflow and achieve 70% higher uptime than self-managed airflow.”
Astronomer is a mid-sized agency with 369 workers, in accordance with its profile on Pitchbook.
The corporate relocated to an workplace on West twenty third Road in Chelsea in February 2024 after beforehand being headquartered in Cincinnati, in accordance with a weblog submit.
Astronomer bragged that the brand new workplace’s “spacious layout helps facilitate collaboration and features a great view of the Empire State Building,” in addition to a roof deck for internet hosting occasions.
“Cincinnati was an incredible place for us to start our company and we will continue to have a presence in Cincinnati,” Byron stated in an announcement on the time. “Now, we’re excited to build a bigger presence in the NYC area.”
As The Publish reported, one former colleague of Byron’s alleged that he was a “toxic” boss.
“The text groups and chains of former employees are like … everybody’s laughing their ass off and enjoying the hell out of what happened and him getting exposed,” stated the supply, who reported on to Byron.
Byron joined Astronomer as its CEO in July 2023, in accordance with his now-deleted LinkedIn profile.
Previous to that, he had stints as president of California-based agency Lacework, chief income officer at Cybereason and president and COO of Fuze.
