Ukrainian-founded data observability startup Masthead Data raises $1.3M 

Founded by Ukrainian, Masthead Data has raised $1.3 million in a pre-seed round led by focal, with participation from SMOK Ventures, DEPO Ventures, Monochrome, and Alchemist Accelerator. This was reported by Borys Musielak, Founding Partner at SMOK Ventures.

• Founded in March 2022 by Ukrainian couple Yuliia Tkachova and Sergiy Tkachov, now Masthead is based in Toronto.
• The startup offers a data observability platform that does not require access to client data and only relies on logs and metadata to alert on anomalies in Google Cloud in real time. Masthead provides a complete view of all data anomalies, pipeline anomalies, and schema changes without integrating with the ETL, helping data teams catch anomalies before they cause problems for business users.
• Currently, the company works with Google Cloud, but will be launched for other providers in the near future. It can integrate with Looker, so users can see how data errors affect customers and business operations.
• The round was led by US-based focal, that lead pre-seed rounds in software startups across North America.
• Such VC funds also participated in the round:
  • Polish SMOK Ventures, that recently led €435,000 for Latvian company Hyperjob.
  • Prague-based DEPO Ventures, one of the new VC funds launched in Central and Eastern Europe in 2022.
  • US-based companies Alchemist Accelerator, a venture-backed initiative focused on accelerating the development of early-stage ventures that monetize from enterprises, and Monochrome that provides seed-stage capital to B2B startups.
• Angel investors from Snowflake, ex-Uber employees, ex-Googlers, privacy and security professionals also joined the round.
• In August 2022, Masthead became one of the startups that received financial assistance as part of the Google for Startups Ukraine Support Fund.