He made your free video player run smoothly. Now he’s doing that for robots.

You may be familiar with VLC Media Player, the widely used free video player featuring an iconic orange traffic cone. It has achieved over 6 billion downloads, thanks to its seamless functionality. Now, its lead developer, Jean-Baptiste Kempf, is channeling his expertise into a groundbreaking project aimed at revolutionizing how we control robots. Kempf envisions a future where 'hundreds of millions of robots and drones' will populate our streets. To facilitate this, he has launched Kyber, a cutting-edge infrastructure designed for real-time control of remote devices. At the heart of Kyber is a software development kit (SDK) that synchronizes video, audio, sensor data, and control inputs with minimal latency. This innovation aligns perfectly with the increasing trend of physical AI, which is why the Paris-based startup successfully secured $5 million in funding, led by Lightspeed, a venture capital firm known for backing prominent companies like Anthropic and Mistral AI. In a LinkedIn post announcing their investment, Lightspeed emphasized that 'physical AI is only as good as the underlying systems running it.' While Kyber's potential applications are vast, Kempf elaborated that it caters to situations where the operator, the computing resource, and the action are not co-located. The startup's name, inspired by the lightsaber crystals from Star Wars, reflects its commitment to speed—'every millisecond matters' when controlling real-world devices, as Kempf pointed out. Kyber's strategy to mitigate lag is deeply rooted in video streaming technology. Initially a side project during Kempf's tenure as CTO at cloud gaming company Shadow, Kyber's early focus on streaming technology establishes a clear connection to VLC. However, the company also excels in IoT optimization—ensuring performance is finely tuned to the available computing power across a scalable range of devices. Kempf noted that while some larger companies have created similar software for specific applications like remote driving, managing millions of devices presents a whole new challenge. This scaling significantly increases the importance of observability, especially as AI agents begin to manage entire fleets autonomously. Even on a smaller scale, Kyber offers substantial benefits, such as the ability to update software without needing to physically access each device. With applications ranging from a few to millions of devices, Kyber's user base is set to encompass a diverse array of companies, although not all will be paying customers. Staying true to Kempf's open-source roots, the primary project remains open-source, while the company also offers a commercial version tailored for enterprise clients. Beyond software, Kyber provides hands-on deployment assistance through a team of forward-deployed engineers (FDEs), which makes up a significant portion of its 25 full-time employees. Headquartered in Paris with additional offices in San Francisco and Singapore, Kyber is poised to serve a global clientele across various sectors, including defense, telecommunications, robotics, and AI. To streamline its focus, Kyber has identified three main areas of priority: robotics, various types of drones, and remote IT access—where demand has surged. Kempf expressed his ambition for Kyber to be more than just a competitor to Citrix in the remote IT space, acknowledging the substantial market potential. Despite the unglamorous nature of remote IT access, Kempf remains motivated by the challenge, stating, 'The companies that attempted to solve it spent years and tens of millions building custom solutions they’ll never share. We’re creating a version that everyone can utilize.'