Tachyus, a Data Start-Up for Oil Industry, Raises $6 Million From Founders Fund

Since graduating from Stanford in 2011, Dakin Sloss has already co-founded two start-ups, including the government data analysis company OpenGov.

But several months ago, he and two friends began discussing what their next project should be. After research into a number of industries ripe for more sophisticated data analysis, they came up with a surprising one: oil and gas.

What the three founded has become Tachyus, which aims to create an array of sensors and mobile applications to help oil and gas producers better record and analyze their wells. The company plans to announce as soon as Thursday that it has raised $6 million from a group led by Founders Fund and includes Streamlined Ventures and Formation 8.

The start-up represents an anomaly of sorts in Silicon Valley. Many new businesses focus on high-technology products for the Internet or green technology, but Mr. Sloss and his co-founders, Paul Orland and Francisco LePort, have instead homed in on the decidedly older and dirtier business of drilling for hydrocarbons.

“If you care about energy, you should care about oil and gas,” Mr. Sloss said. “If you can do something to make oil and gas more efficient and more safe, that will have a fundamental impact.”

None of the three had experience in the industry, though they eventually hired a petroleum engineer. But the business offered a chance to apply the latest in data collection and analysis to help make operations more efficient.

A turning point came when the team had journeyed to a major producer’s field in Bakersfield, Calif. Workers were gathering data on wells’ temperatures and oil flow rates with pad and pencil, then retyping it into computers with an array of business systems.

“It became really clear that there was an opportunity for fresh technology minds here,” Mr. Sloss said. “We’re helping business make better decisions.”

Tachyus has been developing hardware and software to gather information wirelessly about various aspects of oil production, tracking production using iPads or a web app. The company’s products are in the process of being tested by prospective customers.

Mr. Sloss declined to comment on other financial details of the financing round, including the company’s valuation. But he said that Tachyus planned to use the money to enlarge its team to 30 to 40 people over the next two and a half years.

“Despite exciting advancements in renewable energy, fossil fuels will continue to drive the world’s energy supply for decades, and doing more with these limited resources is incredibly important,” Scott Nolan, a partner at Founders Fund, said in a statement. “Tachyus’s work in bringing a new level of operational intelligence to the oil and gas industry represents a huge opportunity on multiple levels.”