- Andy Byron, CEO of Astronomer, was seen embracing HR chief Kristin Cabot at a concert
- Astronomer is a data infrastructure firm known for its Astro platform based on Apache Airflow
- The company has a private valuation of about $740 million after a May 2025 Series D funding
It was a Coldplay concert in Boston. There were probably hundreds of couples. The kiss camera, a routine segment at the British band's performances, caught one. The only problem was that Astronomer CEO Andy Byron, who is already married with two children, was seen embracing the company's HR chief, Kristin Cabot, from behind.
The pair hastily stepped apart and has since come under fire, facing allegations of infidelity. But the incident has also prompted a rise in curiosity about the company they represent, Astronomer Inc.
What does Astronomer do?
Astronomer is a data infrastructure company that provides tools to help organisations manage and streamline complex data workflows. At its core is Astro, a data orchestration and observability platform powered by the open-source tool Apache Airflow. The platform is designed to enable businesses to build strong data pipelines that support analytics, artificial intelligence (AI) and data-driven applications.
“Astronomer empowers data teams to bring mission-critical software, analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) to life,” it says on its website.
The Astro platform, it adds, “accelerates building reliable data products that unlock insights, unleash AI value, and power data-driven applications.”
Astronomer has rapidly grown in influence. Its LinkedIn profile claims the platform is trusted by over 700 enterprises globally. According to various reports, Apache Airflow, on which Astro is built, is currently used by more than 80,000 organisations and was downloaded over 324 million times in 2024 alone.
Despite not being publicly listed, Astronomer has reached a private market valuation of around $740 million following a Series D funding round in May 2025. The round was led by Bain Capital Ventures, with participation from Salesforce Ventures, Insight Partners, Meritech Capital, Venrock and Bosch Ventures.
In a statement accompanying the funding news, the company said the capital would be used to accelerate its research and development efforts and expand its global footprint.
Who is Andy Byron?
Andy Byron has served as CEO of Astronomer since July 2023. He is married to Megan Kerrigan Byron, an educator based in New York. She works at the Bancroft School in Worcester, Massachusetts, where she runs a programme dedicated to students with language-based learning differences. The couple share two children.
Who is Kristin Cabot?
Kristin Cabot took over as HR chief at Astronomer in November 2024. In a January 13 interview with Techrseries, she spoke about the company's culture and her strategic HR approach. “I like to classify my role in the realm of People Strategy,” Cabot said. “Magic happens when you align the people strategy to the business strategy and sync the two.”
As the Coldplay video continues to make waves online, Astronomer has found itself in the media spotlight. According to a report in The New York Post, neither the company nor its CEO, Andy Byron, has responded to its request for comment yet.
