Metronome's usage-based billing software finds hit in AI as the startup raises $43M in fresh capital
Summary
Metronome, a startup that helps software companies offer usage-based billing, has raised $43 million in a Series B funding round led by NEA.Existing backers Andreessen Horowitz and General Catalyst also participated in the financing, which brings its total amount raised to over $78 million since its 2019 inception.Founded by Dropbox alums Kevin Liu and Scott Woody, San Francisco-based Metronome says it saw a 6x increase in ARR last year as more companies transitioned from subscription to usage-based models, or a combination of both. Its product, Liu said, helps facilitate that transition while plugging into their existing tooling, minimizing disruption and drastically speeding up the process.AI companies in particular seem to be drawn to Metronomes offering, the company claims.The entire AI stack has usage-based COGS, from APIs down to the GPU infrastructure layer, which means that AI businesses often turn to usage-based pricing to keep their margins consistent, said Woody. Weve had a huge amount of inbound interest from companies looking to monetize new AI products.To help meet that demand, over the last year, Metronome doubled its headcount to 66 full-time employees, growing its staff by more than 40% in the last quarter alone. It claims to still have a lot of hiring to do this year, particularly across its R&D and customer-facing teams.The company also plans to use its new funding to advance on its product roadmap.This capital also gives us a tremendous amount of dry powder and runway, which is important in an uncertain environment like this, said Liu. Were building critical infrastructure, so customers need to know that well be around for the long haul.As part of the funding round, NEA partner Hilarie Koplow-McAdams has joined Metronomes board of directors.Billing is often under resourced internally and seen as a bottleneck for product launches and pricing changes.