Why we invested in Metrika, a monitoring platform for blockchain networks

Companies running blockchain networks and applications need real-time access to the health and operational status of their entire computing ecosystem in order to proactively identify potential problems and ensure uptime.

Now, an innovative platform developed by Metrika provides an operational intelligence service that collects and analyzes data on the health of blockchain networks. We participated in Metrika’s $14 million Series A round because the company’s platform is helping to improve latency, performance, security, and reliability on blockchain networks.

To understand our investment decision, I need to take a detour and explain Samsung Next’s thesis-based approach to investment. We evaluate companies individually, but we choose which companies we want to explore based on a well-researched thesis. In this case, both our blockchain and infrastructure theses identified a gap in the area of analytics and monitoring for decentralized networks. 

You see, analytics is very important for development because otherwise the developer is in the dark regarding product performance. The multi-owner, decentralized nature of blockchain technology limits the ability of developers to get a singular overview of network health and operational status. But Metrika’s platform is designed to work seamlessly with decentralized networks, giving all stakeholders complete operational transparency. Metrika’s technology enables customers to track metrics and operations via public, community-sourced dashboards.

We think Metrika’s decentralized application monitoring and analytics solution fills an important operational need. Moreover, the company has proven the viability of its solution on public blockchains with customers such as Algorand, Solana, NBA Top Shot, Dapper Labs, and Blockdaemon.

Metrika’s technology also dovetails nicely with Samsung’s interest in blockchain and decentralized computing technology. We believe monitoring and analytics are a key to scaling blockchain technology. Metrika’s solution has the potential to transform blockchain in much the same way that application performance monitoring (APM) helped to accelerate the use of cloud computing. 

We also are keen on Metrika’s founder-market-fit. The Metrika team has considerable experience in blockchain networking, monitoring, and analytics. Nikos Andrikogiannopoulos, Metrika’s CEO, has 15 years of experience as a telecom strategist and network engineer. Dimosthenis Kaponis, Metrika's chief technology officer, was formerly the CTO of Netdata Inc. and Beat – a Daimler/BMW subsidiary in the ride-hailing space. Scott Chandler, the company’s sales manager, brings decades of experience to the team. Moreover, the company’s chairman, Rubin Gruber, has founded numerous companies in telecommunications and digital networking that have either gone public or been acquired.

We are pleased to have participated in this funding round led by Neotribe. Other institutional investors, in addition to Samsung Next, include Coinbase, NYCA, and SCB 10X. This Series A round brings Metrika’s total funding to $17.7 million. Metrika’s monitoring solution has arrived at just the right time. It has the potential to become the industry standard for ensuring blockchain network reliability.

Royi Benyossef is Director of Investments at Samsung Next. Samsung Next's investment strategy is limited to its own views and does not reflect the vision or strategy of any other Samsung business unit, including but not limited to Samsung Electronics.

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