AI 'immune system' Phoebe lands backing from Google arm

Core Insights - Phoebe, an AI start-up, has secured $17 million in initial funding, marking one of the largest seed funding rounds for a UK-based company this year [1][2] - The funding round is led by GV (formerly Google Ventures) and Cherry Ventures, coinciding with the public launch of Phoebe's platform [2] - The company aims to address the significant time software developers spend on bug fixes, which is estimated to be up to 30% of their time [3] Company Overview - Phoebe was founded by Matt Henderson and James Summerfield, former executives at Stripe Europe, and has a history of successful ventures, including the sale of their previous start-up to Google [2] - The company utilizes AI agents to monitor live system data, identifying and fixing software glitches in real time, which can reduce resolution time by up to 90% [4] Industry Context - Financial losses from software outages reached $400 billion globally last year, highlighting the critical need for effective software monitoring solutions [3] - The current software monitoring tools are deemed insufficiently intelligent, requiring significant human intervention to diagnose issues [5] - Phoebe's approach aims to create a "software immune system" that enhances both human and AI engineers' ability to prevent software failures [6] Customer Impact - Phoebe has already signed customers, including Trainline, which reported significant improvements in incident investigation and remediation times [7]