In an era where 65% of network changes are still made manually using error-prone spreadsheets, infrastructure teams face mounting pressure to manage increasingly complex environments while preventing costly downtime and security vulnerabilities. The explosion of AI-driven data centers and distributed networks has intensified these challenges, with organizations struggling to maintain accurate documentation, enforce compliance, and accelerate automation initiatives across their technology footprints. NetBox Labs addresses this critical gap by providing the industry-standard source of truth for network and infrastructure management, used by tens of thousands of organizations including hyperscalers, Fortune 500 enterprises, and government agencies worldwide. The company’s comprehensive platform includes NetBox for operations and documentation, NetBox Discovery for automated network mapping, and NetBox Assurance for detecting and fixing infrastructure drift, while the upcoming NetBox Operator will bring AI-powered autonomous operations to network teams. With their growing partnerships with systems integrators who recognize NetBox as foundational for enterprise transformations, NetBox Labs enables teams to manage complex infrastructure with confidence while reducing manual work across operations, automation, observability, and security use cases.
AlleyWatch sat down with NetBox Labs co-founder and CEO Kris Beevers to learn more about the business, its future plans, recent $35M Series B round that brings total funding to $55M, and much, much more…
Who were your investors and how much did you raise?
NetBox Labs raised a $35M Series B funding round led by NGP Capital, with participation from Sorenson Capital and b Existing investors participated in the round, including Flybridge Capital, Notable Capital, Mango Capital, Salesforce Ventures, Two Sigma Ventures, and IBM.
Tell us about the product or service that NetBox Labs offers.
NetBox is the system of record that network and infrastructure teams rely on to accelerate technology operations across the enterprise.
NetBox is pervasive in any tech infrastructure. Tens of thousands of large companies, hyperscalers, the new AI scale-ups — everyone uses it.
In just a short time, NetBox has become the standard for how modern technology infrastructure is built, managed, and automated to accelerate innovation, streamline operations, unlock AI use cases, and guarantee adherence to critical performance and security standards.
The company also offers NetBox Discovery for automated network and device discovery; NetBox Assurance for finding and fixing drift in infrastructure from its intended state; and NetBox Copilot, which is an AI-powered assistant that helps you explore, understand, and act on your NetBox data. NetBox Analytics, a data offering atop NetBox’s rich operational data sets for forecasting and planning; and NetBox Operator, an agentic AI operations platform for network and infrastructure teams, are also in development.
NetBox Labs is the commercial steward of open-source NetBox. We provide enterprise-grade solutions with advanced features and integrations, similar to what Databricks, Grafana Labs, and MongoDB do in open-source.
What inspired the start of NetBox Labs?
The cofounders of NetBox Labs started the company in 2023 to be the commercial steward of NetBox.
While CEO (and cofounder) of NS1, my team and I encountered NetBox everywhere we went. It was pervasive. I then hired NetBox project founder Jeremy Stretch at NS1. NetBox Labs was born out of NS1 and became a standalone company when IBM acquired NS1.
Now, NetBox Labs is on a mission to make building and managing complex networks and infrastructure easier. We also put the community first — every contributor, detractor, tinkerer, and NetBox Labs customer, partner, investor, or employee. Their feedback, support, direct and indirect contributions, and every other kind of engagement remain vital to our collective innovation journey.
How is NetBox Labs different?
There are a couple of things that make NetBox Labs unique:
The technology is pervasive. NetBox is the only independent and universal network and infrastructure source of truth. NetBox is a common thread found throughout much of the world’s tech infrastructure.
The NetBox Labs team is made up of technology and industry visionaries with a proven track record of transforming infrastructure markets. This includes NS1, which was acquired by IBM in 2023. Our investors also have a wildly successful track record in building open-source technology leaders, including many in infrastructure like Mongo, Hashicorp, and Grafana Labs.
What market does NetBox Labs target and how big is it?
NetBox Labs operates in the network and infrastructure management market. It addresses needs across four major categories: operations, observability, automation, and security. The company targets hyperscalers, AI scale-ups, Fortune 500 enterprises, government agencies, and global infrastructure providers.
There is a huge opportunity within this market as 65% of network changes are still made manually, often using spreadsheets. This manual work is error-prone and cumbersome, stifling innovation, and leaving teams feeling overwhelmed. And at the same time, investment in tech infrastructure is skyrocketing, especially driven by the meteoric rise of AI.
What’s your business model?
NetBox Labs follows a commercial open-source model, similar to Databricks or Mongo. While NetBox is freely available as an open-source tool, the company offers enterprise-grade products—NetBox Cloud and NetBox Enterprise, along with an array of additional high-value products built around the data in NetBox — with advanced features, integrations, support, and services. Revenue comes from delivering tangible value to organizations managing critical infrastructure.
How are you preparing for a potential economic slowdown?
NetBox Labs is grounded in delivering practical, high-value outcomes such as operational efficiency, security, and automation, which are often prioritized in times of budget pressure. Our focus on a sustainable, open-source-driven model supported by customer revenue provides durability and compounding community value.
What was the funding process like?
Bluntly, NetBox Labs is growing incredibly quickly in a massive market with a unique vision and secular tailwinds, managed by a world-class team that’s raised hundreds of millions of venture investment, and backed by supportive investors who were eager to participate in this most recent round. It was a quick process. We’re thrilled with the result and to have the NGP Capital team on board, along with our other new investors, Sorenson and Headline.
What are the biggest challenges that you faced while raising capital?
We’re very selective in the investing partners we work with. We were thrilled with the demand we saw and had to make some tough choices about who to work with in a very oversubscribed round.
What factors about your business led your investors to write the check?
Key factors included:
Ubiquitous adoption of NetBox across sectors and geographies, along our positioning as the system of record for infrastructure and a foundational layer for automation and AI-driven operations.
Strong open-source community that we’re fundamentally committed to.
Proven commercial traction with hundreds of enterprise customers.
A team with a track record of success, including leadership from NS1, New Relic, AppNexus, and other world-class businesses.
We are building a world-class business with the potential for massive scale, and we are doing it very, very fast.
What are the milestones you plan to achieve in the next six months?
We’re seeing strong global demand for enterprise-class NetBox solutions, and our priority over the next six months is to meet that demand by accelerating product innovation, expanding our team, and deepening customer and community engagement. We’ve already doubled our employee count this year and will continue hiring across engineering, customer success, marketing, product, partnerships, and sales to scale with growth.
A key milestone is expanding our partner ecosystem. Systems integrators — who help large enterprises manage complex transformations — are embracing NetBox as a foundational system of record. They see it as a way to reduce errors, accelerate deployments, and enable automation at scale. We’re investing in building stronger partnerships, more integrations, and expanded support for global enterprise customers.
As always, we’re investing back into the open-source community, increasing our contributions and product velocity while continuing to support and grow the vibrant community of NetBox users and developers.
What advice can you offer companies in New York that do not have a fresh injection of capital in the bank?
Focus relentlessly on the fundamentals: building products that solve real problems, engaging deeply with customers, and creating a culture that values execution over hype. You don’t need a big balance sheet to move quickly — you need clarity, discipline, and a tight feedback loop with the people who depend on what you’re building. Stay close to your users, invest in what differentiates you, and avoid distractions that don’t drive meaningful outcomes.
Focus relentlessly on the fundamentals: building products that solve real problems, engaging deeply with customers, and creating a culture that values execution over hype. You don’t need a big balance sheet to move quickly — you need clarity, discipline, and a tight feedback loop with the people who depend on what you’re building. Stay close to your users, invest in what differentiates you, and avoid distractions that don’t drive meaningful outcomes.
In tougher environments, the teams that win are the ones that operate deliberately and support each other. Collaboration, adaptability, and community matter more than ever when resources are tight. At the end of the day, capital can accelerate growth, but it’s great product, great people, and operational focus that create lasting impact.
If you’re in New York, you’re surrounded by a tremendous ecosystem that’s risen quickly over the last 10-15 years. Lean on that. So many world-class businesses, especially in enterprise tech and infrastructure, have been built in New York. NetBox Labs draws on what we learned building NS1, which itself drew on what we learned building Voxel – from which spawned a whole mafia of great infrastructure companies. There are many such stories in New York. Find that experience, and draw from it.
Where do you see the company going now over the near term?
NetBox Labs is at the forefront of a pivotal shift in infrastructure management, where automation, standardization, and open-source innovation are transforming how organizations operate at scale. In the near term, NetBox will become the default system of record for critical infrastructure across industries, from AI scale-ups and hyperscalers to global enterprises and government agencies.
With innovation in AI, cloud, and networking accelerating faster than infrastructure teams can adapt, companies are racing to modernize outdated practices. Many still rely on spreadsheets and manual processes for critical operations. NetBox Labs is helping customers move beyond that, providing a universal, automated source of truth that unlocks operational efficiency, strengthens security, and powers automation.
We’re building on this momentum by expanding globally, scaling our enterprise customer base, and cementing partnerships with systems integrators and technology providers. At the same time, we’ll continue to lead in the open-source community, driving collaboration and accelerating infrastructure innovation.
What’s your favorite summer destination in and around the city?
These days I mostly live near the beach. The Jersey Shore isn’t quite what you’ve seen on TV. Head down the shore and spend some time on the beach or on the water. It’s my favorite way to re-energize after a busy week.
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