Jitsu nabs $2M seed to build open-source data integration platform

Jitsu, a#nbsp;graduate of#nbsp;the Y#nbsp;Combinator Summer 2020 cohort, is#nbsp;developing an#nbsp;open-source data integration platform that helps developers send data to#nbsp;a#nbsp;data warehouse. Today, the startup announced a $#nbsp;2 million seed investment.

Costanoa Ventures led the round with participation from Y#nbsp;Combintaor, The House Fund and SignalFire.

In#nbsp;addition to#nbsp;the open-source version of#nbsp;the software, the company has developed a#nbsp;hosted version that companies can pay to#nbsp;use, which shares the same name as#nbsp;the company. Peter Wysinski, Jitsu’s co-founder and CEO, says a#nbsp;good way to#nbsp;think about his company is#nbsp;an#nbsp;open-source Segment, the customer data integration company that was recently sold to#nbsp;Twilio for $#nbsp;3.2 billion.

But, he#nbsp;says, it#nbsp;goes beyond what Segment provides by#nbsp;allowing you to#nbsp;move all kinds of#nbsp;data, whether customer data, connected device data or#nbsp;other types. "If you look at#nbsp;the space in#nbsp;general, companies want more granularity. So#nbsp;let’s say for example, a#nbsp;couple years ago you wanted to#nbsp;sync just your transactions from QuickBooks to#nbsp;your data warehouse, now you want to#nbsp;capture every single sale at#nbsp;the point of#nbsp;sale. What Jitsu lets you do#nbsp;is#nbsp;capture essentially all of#nbsp;those events, all of#nbsp;those streams, and send them to#nbsp;your data warehouse," Wysinski explained.

Among the data warehouses it#nbsp;currently supports are Amazon Redshift, Google BigQuery, PostGres and Snowflake.

The founders built the open-source project called EventNative to#nbsp;help solve problems they themselves were having moving data around at#nbsp;their previous jobs. After putting the open-source version on#nbsp;GitHub a#nbsp;few months ago, they quickly attained 1,000 stars, proving that they had delivered something that solved a#nbsp;common problem for data teams. They then built the hosted version, Jitsu, which went live a#nbsp;couple of#nbsp;weeks ago.

For now, the company is#nbsp;just the two co-founders, Wysinski and CTO Vladimir Klimontovich and couple of#nbsp;contract engineers, but they intend to#nbsp;do#nbsp;some preliminary hiring over the next year to#nbsp;grow the company, most likely adding engineers. As#nbsp;they begin to#nbsp;build out the startup, Wysinski says that being open source will help drive diversity and inclusion in#nbsp;their hiring.

"The goal is#nbsp;essentially to#nbsp;go#nbsp;after that open-source community and hire people from anywhere because engineers aren’t just […] one color or#nbsp;one race, they’re everywhere, and being open source, and especially being in#nbsp;a#nbsp;remote world, makes it#nbsp;so, so#nbsp;much simpler [to build a#nbsp;diverse workforce], and a#nbsp;lot of#nbsp;companies I#nbsp;feel are going down that road," he#nbsp;said.

He#nbsp;says along that line, the plan is#nbsp;to#nbsp;be a#nbsp;fully remote company, even after the pandemic ends, as#nbsp;they hire from anywhere. The goal is#nbsp;to#nbsp;have quarterly offsite meetings to#nbsp;check in#nbsp;with employees, but do#nbsp;the majority of#nbsp;the work remotely.

Published by TechCrunch#nbsp;— on#nbsp;December 2, 2020