Kyber: VLC creator aims to connect millions of remote robots

What happened?

Jean-Baptiste Kempf, the lead developer of VLC Media Player —the open-source media player with over 6 billion downloads— has announced a $5 million seed funding round for his new startup, Kyber. The investment is led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, with participation from OVNI Capital and Kima Ventures. Kyber presents itself as an infrastructure layer for real-time remote control of physical devices, with an initial focus on robots. The news was reported by The Next Web, which highlights that Lightspeed also led the record seed round of Mistral AI and has invested in Anthropic, underscoring the caliber of the investors.

Why is it important?

Kempf's vision is to create an open, low-latency platform that connects hundreds of millions of robots and other devices to the Internet, facilitating their remote operation. This echoes the impact VLC had in democratizing video playback: Kyber aims to do the same for robotics. Lightspeed, which also led the seed rounds of Mistral AI and has invested in Anthropic, backs the bet. If Kyber achieves its goal, it could become the de facto standard for robotic teleoperation, a market that according to MarketsandMarkets is expected to reach $43 billion by 2027. Kempf's experience at VLC, where he optimized codecs and streaming to run on modest hardware, is directly applicable to the latency and efficiency challenges in robotics.

Consequences and context

The remote robotics market is fragmented: each manufacturer uses proprietary protocols, hindering interoperability and scale. Kyber aims to unify them with a network layer optimized for low latency and high reliability. This would enable applications such as remote surgery, remote industrial maintenance, infrastructure inspection, logistics, and precision agriculture. However, the challenge is enormous: latency, security, and interoperability are significant technical hurdles. The funding will allow Kyber to develop a minimum viable product and recruit talent. Competitors like AWS RoboMaker offer cloud services for simulation and development but do not focus on real-time remote control. Other startups like Robotify or Viam also seek to standardize robotics, but none have Kempf's track record in massive open-source software. VLC's history shows that Kempf knows how to build communities and open standards: VLC went from a university project to the world's most used media player, thanks to its GPL license and support for virtually any format. Kyber could follow a similar path if it gains adoption from manufacturers and developers.

A key aspect is timing: robotics is at an inflection point, with advances in AI, sensors, and 5G connectivity making teleoperation viable at scale. Kempf has stated that his experience at VLC (codecs, streaming) is directly applicable, as both problems involve transmitting data in real-time with bandwidth and latency constraints. However, security is critical: a failure in remote control of a surgical or industrial robot could have serious consequences. Kyber must implement end-to-end encryption, robust authentication, and redundancy. Lightspeed, with its track record in AI and robotics investments (such as Mistral AI and Anthropic), brings not only capital but also strategic connections.

What readers should know

• Kyber is not a robot, but a software infrastructure similar to an operating system for remote control. It focuses on the network and protocol layer, not hardware.
• The team is small but experienced in VideoLAN and streaming protocols. Kempf has gathered engineers who worked on VLC and real-time systems.
• Lightspeed's investment is a sign of confidence in the potential of robotics as a service. Lightspeed has backed companies that later became unicorns, such as Nutanix and Snap.
• Possible applications: logistics (automated warehouses), agriculture (spraying drones), infrastructure inspection (pipelines, bridges), telemedicine (remote robotic surgery).
• Risks: competition from giants like AWS (RoboMaker) or specialized startups; dependence on manufacturer adoption; technical challenges of latency and security. Additionally, the remote robotics market is still nascent and may take years to mature.

“We want any robot to be controllable from anywhere, with the same ease that VLC plays any video format,” Kempf stated.

Kyber's success will depend on its ability to create a community of developers and manufacturers that adopt its standard. VLC's history shows that Kempf knows how to do it: VLC became a standard because it was free, open-source, and worked on any platform. Kyber could repeat that formula in robotics, but the context is more complex: robot manufacturers have incentives to maintain closed ecosystems. However, pressure to reduce costs and accelerate innovation could tip the balance toward open standards. With $5 million, Kyber has capital to develop a prototype and attract early partners. If it can demonstrate a significant reduction in latency (e.g., below 10 ms) and easy integration, it could capture the industry's attention. Time will tell if Kyber becomes the "VLC of robots" or remains an ambitious attempt.