Ably
Ably provides real-time infrastructure for AI agents, chat, notifications, and live dashboards, handling over 2 trillion API operations monthly for 2 billion devices. Founded in 2016 and based in London, the company has raised $82M in funding.
The growth story
Ably grew from 62 to 117 employees between 2021 and 2026, raising $82M along the way, most recently a Series B in June 2021.
About
Ably sells a platform that enables developers to build and scale real-time features like chat, notifications, and live dashboards without managing their own infrastructure. Its products include Pub/Sub, Chat, and AI Transport, designed to integrate seamlessly across tech stacks. Customers like HubSpot and Intercom use Ably to avoid the complexity of building real-time systems while ensuring predictable performance at scale.
Since its Series B funding round in June 2021, Ably has grown to 117 employees. The company processes over 2 trillion API operations monthly, serving more than 2 billion devices, which underscores its ability to handle peak demand for real-time applications.
Founders and leadership
Engineering is the largest function at Ably, with 22 employees. The company is led by a team that includes investors like Ashley Friedlein and James Woolf, with backing from firms such as Dawn Capital and Insight Partners.
The Ably org chart
Matthew O'Riordan (CEO and co-founder) leads 30 mapped leaders with 4 direct reports. Click +N to expand a team; names link to the person’s public profile.
Departments, and which ones grew
Headcount by function: Engineering 21 (-25% YoY), Business Development 14 (+17% YoY), Information Technology 12 (0% YoY), Operations 10 (0% YoY), Sales 8 (+60% YoY), Entrepreneurship 7 (+17% YoY).
Talent flow
Ably recruits from companies like Econsultancy, Sauce Labs, and SingleStore. Alumni often move to roles at Supabase, Zopa Bank, and Cloudsmith. The company has a median tenure of 2 years.
Most common previous employers of Ably staff: Econsultancy (3), Sauce Labs (3), SingleStore (2), Attest (2), Redgate Software (2), Thomson Reuters (2). Former Ably employees most often moved to Supabase (3), Zopa Bank (2), Cloudsmith (2), SpaceXAI (2), Palo Alto Networks (2), Aveni (2).
Alumni worth knowing
The Ably mafia
Ably alumni have founded 8 companies, including Arbor, Tofugear, and Nexcade, with Arbor being the largest, employing 14 people.
8Kelly Zhou, was Board Observer until 2022William Yeung, was Co-founder, Chief Systems Architect until 2014Dan Bailey, was Investor & Board Member until 2021Denis Sellu, was Engineering Lead, Website until 2026James Aley, was Chief Technology Officer until 2023Francis Roberts, was Developer educator & DevEx - Realtime infra until 2026
Geofrey Ernest, was Independent Contractor until 2020Web traffic
Traffic mix: 30% direct, 56% search, 3% social, 1% paid.
What this company is made of
Most common skills at Ably: Project Management (24), Microsoft Excel (20), Leadership (19), Microsoft Office (19), Customer Service (18), JavaScript (17), Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) (17), Research Skills (16).
Where the team actually sits
Ably people are concentrated in England, United Kingdom (28), United Kingdom (11), London Area, United Kingdom (5), Scotland, United Kingdom (2).
Search footprint
Ably attracts about 12,450 organic search visits a month, traffic worth roughly $43K a month if bought through ads. It gained 1,549 ranking keywords and lost 1,507 in the last period.
What employees say
- Compensation
- 4.30 / 5
- Career opportunities
- 4.00 / 5
- Senior management
- 4.10 / 5
- Work-life balance
- 4.10 / 5
Frequently asked
Ably has 117 employees as of September 2026.
Ably has raised $82M in total, most recently a Series B round in June 2021.
Ably was founded in 2016 by Matthew O'Riordan, Paddy Byers.
Matthew O'Riordan (CEO and co-founder) sits at the top of Ably's reporting structure, with 4 direct reports.
The most common previous employers of current Ably staff are Econsultancy (3 people), Sauce Labs (3 people), SingleStore (2 people).
Former Ably employees most often move to Supabase (3), Zopa Bank (2), Cloudsmith (2).
At least 8 companies have a founder who previously worked at Ably, including Arbor, Tofugear, Nexcade.
Ably attracts about 12,450 organic search visits a month, worth roughly $43K a month in equivalent ad spend.
The most common skills among Ably staff are Project Management, Microsoft Excel, Leadership, Microsoft Office, Customer Service.
Ably staff are concentrated in England, United Kingdom (28), United Kingdom (11), London Area, United Kingdom (5).
Ably has about 21 people in Engineering, down 25% over the past year, as of September 2026.
Ably has about 14 people in Business Development, up 17% over the past year, as of September 2026.
Computed from 56 current and 196 former Ably profiles, as of September 2026. Source: Crustdata.
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