Synnax

What do they actually do

Synnax ships an open-source stack you deploy next to lab rigs or test benches to collect and store time-series from sensors, stream that data live to UIs and code, and run short control sequences close to the hardware. The core pieces are: Core (a server that stores/streams telemetry and exposes APIs), Console (a desktop and embedded web UI for visualization, device configuration, and running sequences), and Driver software that connects to common hardware like NI and LabJack as well as OPC UA and Modbus, with SDKs in Python/TypeScript/C++ plus a React UI library (Pluto) and a network transport (Freighter) Core Console Driver Releases GitHub.

A typical workflow is to install Core and Console, attach devices via a Driver, configure read/write tasks so channels stream into Core, visualize live/historical traces, and optionally run tightly timed sequences from the Console or on nearby real-time controllers. The project is source-available with active releases; the team is experimenting with pricing and has publicly noted free usage for small deployments (e.g., up to ~50 channels) while they refine the model Install guide Driver ref Releases GitHub HN pricing comment.

Today it’s used by early hardware teams and labs, including student rocketry groups and engineers with aerospace and research backgrounds, to replace brittle, file-based telemetry and vendor-specific control stacks with a single, on-prem system for streaming, storage, visualization, and simple automated control near the device YC company profile GitHub.

Who are their target customer(s)

• Aerospace and student rocketry test teams: They need reliable telemetry and simple closed-loop control near prototypes and are tired of stitching together vendor tools and ad-hoc log files that make tests hard to reproduce YC profile Core/Driver.
• Early-stage hardware startups (robotics, drones, medical devices): They iterate quickly and need live streams plus programmatic access; exporting files and rebuilding dashboards each experiment slows debugging and risks missed failures SDKs/components Console.
• University and research labs running multi-user experiments: Data ends up in scattered formats across people and machines, making it hard to find traces or reproduce someone else’s run Concepts/streaming.
• Enterprise test & validation teams (automotive, semiconductor, industrial): They manage many instruments with uptime requirements and face brittle, proprietary drivers and integrations that require constant maintenance and block automation Driver docs Releases.
• Systems integrators and automation engineers: They repeatedly rebuild basic pieces—data transport, UI widgets, auth—for each client instead of composing reusable building blocks Pluto/Freighter on GitHub.

How would they acquire their first 10, 50, and 100 customers

• First 10: Founder-led, hands-on pilots with labs and student teams: run free on-site installs and demos for early users, handle integrations/training directly, and use the free small-deployment limit to remove friction YC profile HN comment Driver docs.
• First 50: Grow via open-source distribution, tutorials, and device partnerships: publish example dashboards and cookbook guides, host remote onboarding sessions, and bundle with common instruments to simplify trials for startups and university labs GitHub Console docs.
• First 100: Convert pilots into paid pilots with SLAs and clear success metrics; capture case studies and recruit systems integrators and vendor channels to reach automotive, semiconductor, and industrial test groups Releases/roadmap pricing experiments.

What is the rough total addressable market

Top-down context:

Top-down, the test & measurement market is in the low tens of billions; applying a ~30% share for software and services yields roughly $12–15B relevant to Synnax, with the DAQ market adding another low-single-digit billions MarketsandMarkets Fortune Business Insights DAQ reports.

Bottom-up calculation:

Illustratively: 30% × ~$47B ≈ ~$14B for software/services in T&M plus ~$2B for DAQ → a conservative TAM of ~$15–17B for the near-term scope Synnax targets MarketsandMarkets Fortune Business Insights TBRC DAQ.

Assumptions:

• Software/services represent ~30% of T&M spend; hardware is ~70%.
• DAQ spend (~$2B) is additive to T&M software/services without material double counting.
• Broader industrial automation/SCADA is excluded from immediate TAM (considered upside).

Who are some of their notable competitors

• National Instruments (LabVIEW / NI‑DAQmx / VeriStand): Incumbent for lab test and DAQ with proprietary drivers and graphical toolchain used for real-time control and logging; overlaps on instrument I/O and timed loops but is a vertically integrated stack NI‑DAQmx VeriStand.
• Inductive Automation — Ignition (SCADA/HMI): Enterprise SCADA platform for OPC/Modbus connectivity, historians, dashboards, and sequence logic; typically integrator-led deployments vs. Synnax’s on-prem lab/test focus Ignition OPC UA module.
• InfluxData (InfluxDB + Telegraf): Time-series database and collection agents; overlaps on telemetry ingestion/storage but usually paired with Grafana/custom collectors, while Synnax bundles drivers, a console, and near-hardware control InfluxDB Telegraf.
• Robot Operating System (ROS / ROS 2): Middleware for building robot applications (nodes, topics, controllers) and on-robot telemetry; often used alongside separate storage/visualization rather than as a lab historian/console ROS 2 docs Community.
• AWS IoT Core + Timestream/SiteWise: Managed cloud IoT suite for device connectivity and time-series storage/analytics; cloud-first and fleet-oriented versus Synnax’s edge/on-prem lab deployments AWS IoT Timestream IoT integration.