Datadog engineers launch AI-powered coding startup Niteshift, backed by venture capitalists Hoffman & Pomel, showcasing tech

Editorial illustration for Datadog engineers start AI coding firm Niteshift, backed by Hoffman, Pomel

Datadog engineers start AI coding firm Niteshift, backed...

Datadog engineers start AI coding firm Niteshift, backed by Hoffman, Pomel

By AI Daily Post Edited by Brian Petersen, Editor-in-Chief

June 10, 2026 • 2 min read

Niteshift, an AI‑coding agent startup, just closed a $7 million seed round. Greylock’s Jerry Chen led the financing, while a roster of angels—Reid Hoffman, Datadog co‑founder Olivier Pomel, Alexis Lê‑Quôc, Ankur Goyal of Braintrust and Misha Laskin of Reflection AI—signed on. The company was founded by Sajid Mehmood and Conor Branagan, the engineers who helped scale Datadog from a fledgling monitoring tool to a multi‑billion‑dollar business.

Here’s the thing: Niteshift’s pitch hinges on a simple question. Why hand your most sensitive code to model providers like OpenAI or Anthropic when those same firms can launch competing products at any moment? Mehmood, now CEO, draws a parallel to Datadog’s early days, when e‑commerce customers shunned Amazon Web Services out of fear that Amazon would later cannibalize their business.

He calls the emerging threat “the SaaSpocalypse,” a wave of vertical AI offerings that could lock companies into rival platforms. While the seed round is modest by AI standards, the backing suggests investors see merit in an alternative to the big‑AI lock‑in model.

That's a modest sum by AI standards, but the startup, founded by two former early Datadog engineers, has attracted some big-name angels like Reid Hoffman, Datadog's Olivier Pomel and Alexis Lê-Quôc, Ankur Goyal of Braintrust, and Misha Laskin of Reflection AI. Founded by Sajid Mehmood and Conor Branagan, who helped grow Datadog from its early days to a multi-billion valuation, the company has entered the crowded AI coding space with a compelling idea: Why would any company trust its most sensitive assets -- code that runs its products -- directly to model makers like OpenAI and Anthropic, given that those companies are constantly "killing" startups and businesses by launching competing apps?

Datadog veterans launch AI coding startup Niteshift on a bet against Big AI lock-in - TechCrunch AI

Why this matters We see former Datadog engineers Sajid Mehmood and Conor Branagan launching Niteshift, an AI coding agent backed by a $7 million seed round. The money is modest by current AI fundraising norms, yet the list of angels—Reid Hoffman, Datadog CEO Olivier Pomel, Alexis Lê‑Quôc, Ankur Goyal and Misha Laskin—signals confidence in the team’s track record. For developers, a new tool promising to sidestep “Big AI lock‑in” could mean more choice, but the product’s effectiveness remains unproven.

Founders may view the seed as a proof point that experience at a hyper‑growth observability firm still carries weight, though the modest size of the round raises questions about the startup’s runway and ability to scale against well‑funded competitors. Researchers should note that Niteshift’s focus on coding assistance adds to a crowded field, and it is unclear whether its approach will yield measurable productivity gains. In short, the venture illustrates both the allure of applying AI to software development and the uncertainty that still surrounds early‑stage attempts to reshape that market.

Datadog engineers start AI coding firm Niteshift, backed...

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