WhyLabs

01 / WHAT IT BUILT

What the company did

WhyLabs was a Seattle AI observability startup, spun out of the Allen Institute for AI (AI2) and led by co-founder and CEO Alessya Visnjic. It built software to help companies monitor their AI and ML applications for security, performance and data health - including AI Observatory, an observability SaaS platform, and LangKit, an open-source toolkit for monitoring large language models for risks like hallucinations, data leakage and toxic outputs. Backed by about $14 million from Madrona Venture Group, Bezos Expeditions, Defy Partners and Andrew Ng's AI Fund, it was not a failure: Apple hired its founders and key team (a quiet acqui-hire that came together in 2024), and the company open-sourced its platform before discontinuing operations.

03 / EVENT HISTORY

Events in the structured record

1. 2020
   Founded

   WhyLabs is founded in Seattle, a spinout of the Allen Institute for AI, building AI observability software.

2. 2021
   Series A

   In November 2021, WhyLabs raises a $10 million Series A co-led by Defy Partners and Andrew Ng's AI Fund, with Madrona Venture Group and Bezos Expeditions participating.

3. 2023
   LangKit

   WhyLabs launches LangKit, an open-source toolkit helping companies monitor LLMs for safety issues, and is named to the CB Insights GenAI 50.

4. 2024
   Apple acqui-hire

   Apple hires WhyLabs' founders and key team - CEO Alessya Visnjic, Andy Dang, Sam Gracie, Maria Karaivanova - and takes a worldwide license to the IP; the company open-sources its platform and discontinues operations.