More and more organizations are adopting microservices. It’s the loosely coupled, independently deployable services that make up your app. A 2020 O’Reilly survey found that 77% of organizations had adopted microservices at the time, and 29% reported migrating or implementing the majority of their systems using microservices. I’m here.
However, the proliferation of microservices has created new problems for app development. According to the same O’Reilly research, integration with corporate culture and holdover systems is a major challenge in the microservices space.
Startups rushed in to fill the solution void. Helios is a microservices management platform that helps developers understand how their code interacts with other apps. Vendors such as OpsLevel and Temporal offer platforms that organize microservices in centralized portals, and he competes with Helios for business. A new entrant into this space is Nucleus, which aims to enable developers to build their microservice architecture using a variety of infrastructure, security, and observability tools. Backed by Y Combinator, Nucleus has raised his VC funding of $2.1 million to date.
Nucleus was co-founded by Evis Drenova and Nick Zelei in 2021. This is after the two of them spent about seven years building infrastructure for his platforms at both large companies (IBM, Garmin, etc.) and startups (Skyflow, Newfront). Nucleus was inspired after Drenova and Zelei realized they needed to rebuild the same platform to enable developers to create, test, and deploy microservices.
“I’ve noticed more companies trying to migrate [microservices] Drenova said in an email. “Some companies that tried to move to microservices burned their fingers because they didn’t have the right tools and, more importantly, the right people… We want to make sure we can migrate, but it’s a service-oriented architecture that doesn’t require you to be a security, infrastructure or observability expert.”
With Nucleus, developers define microservices and deploy them on the Nucleus platform. The Nucleus Platform automatically configures aspects such as security, observability and more. Nucleus is delivered via a command-line interface designed to fit into existing developer workflows and comes with pre-built integrations including tools from Hashicorp, Cloudflare, Okta, and more.
Image credit: nucleus
“Nucleus is an infrastructure platform that gives you complete code freedom,” said Drenova. “Developers can write code in any language they like and we will support it out of the box. It doesn’t interfere with your business logic. You can build and consider that cage integrated with your infrastructure and third-party tools to be very secure.”
Drenova admits that there are many competitors in the microservice orchestration space. However, he sees the “do it yourself” crowd as his primary competitor for Nucleus.
“Before writing the code, we interviewed 55 CTOs and found that 90% had built something like this before, and it took an average of 8-12 months and cost over $1 million. cost, and we needed three full-time senior engineers,” Drenova said. “We believe that in the time it takes her to DIY, 10% of the time, and 10% of the cost, we can offer a better product. That’s pretty compelling.”
Those are lofty promises. But to Drenova’s credit, Nucleus (whose platform is still in beta) already has a “few” early customers and his eight design partners. Investors also rallied, with Soma Capital, Y Combinator, LombardStreet Ventures, and “dozens” of angels plowing in his Nucleus direction.
“Nucleus is an integral part of the software. We run and manage all services,” added Drenova. “Chief technology officers are always our buyers because they are bigger than any developer…our target market is companies with 20+ developers that are moving to a service-oriented architecture. Any company that uses a can use us.”
Nucleus is now focused on organic growth and maintains a small team of four employees, including a co-founder. Drenova is looking to hire an engineer or two next year, but he tends to be conservative, waiting for more signs of product/market fit.
“In a recession, the playing field is more level for early-stage companies, and while our larger competitors focus on surviving with less cash burn, we are doing everything in our power to take advantage of opportunities. “We have plenty of cash in the bank and a runway for the next few years.”
