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Software startup Observe raises $115 million from Sutter Hill Ventures and Snowflake

Observe is a startup whose software helps detect and resolve problems in application systems. The company said Wednesday it raised $115 million in a funding round led by private equity firm Sutter Hill Ventures and cloud computing company SnowflakeSNOWThe venture capital arm also participated in this round of financing.

The latest round brings total funding to $210 million. Existing investors Capital One Ventures and Madrona also participated in the round.

Observe plans to use the funds to expand its operations in North America.

The startup is trying to differentiate itself in the market for troubleshooting tools for complex application systems with a one-stop solution that could replace New Relic (NEWR.MX), DatadogDDOGand cloud monitoring and analytics services provided by companies such as Splunk, which was recently acquired by CiscoCSCOAcquired for $28 billion.

The San Mateo, Calif.-based startup's service is cheaper than larger rivals, which has helped it win about 100 clients, including Capital One, Reveal and Top Golf.

"It's not enough to be cheap. You have to do better. So it's the combination of those two that makes us interesting to our customers," Observe CEO Jeremy Burton said.

In its last fiscal year, Observe's annual recurring revenue nearly tripled, and its net revenue retention rate, a measure of a company's ability to retain and grow customers, hit 174%.

While the seven-year-old company has yet to turn a profit and is much smaller than its publicly traded rivals, its strong growth contrasts with slowing sales in the cloud computing industry caused by high interest rates and an uncertain economic outlook.

Burton said Observe expects annual recurring revenue to "continue to more than double" this fiscal year.