Appsmith Raises $8M in Series A Round to Expand Its Open Source Corporate App Platform

Today, leading open source software provider, Appsmith, declared an $8 million Series A funding round to support the development of its platform for building internal enterprise applications. Canaan led the funding event, with participation from Accel, Bessemer, and other investors. The latest investment marks a significant milestone for Appsmith, following a previous $2.5 million capital injection.

Appsmith differentiates itself from typical no-code or low-code startups in the niche by primarily targeting traditional developers. It offers user-interface components that can be integrated with business data sources, creating the foundation for apps including calendars, dashboards, and more. According to Appsmith CEO Abhishek Nayak, the decision to raise capital now was driven by the increasing use of their service and a desire to build out the platform to accommodate more use cases, particularly in mobile.

Although Appsmith does not currently offer a paid product, the firm has already developed a hosted version of its open source code, paving the way for future monetization. The implementation of enterprise-specific features is another viable revenue-generating strategy to be considered in due course.

Appsmith sits comfortably within the wider trend of startups developing open source technologies and securing capital. The choice of open source stems from the founders' desire to embed the technology as a core part of their customers' tech stack. The inherent benefits of open source software include its resilience against the uncertainties of startup feasibility and the ease of access that it affords users. To date, Appsmith's project has attracted over 100 external contributors, with feedback from the open-source community playing a pivotal role in driving development decisions.

The company believes that its open source software caters to smaller businesses and developers, while potential paid products promise to better serve the needs of midsize and larger firms. This approach to customer segmentation and potential monetization efforts will provide valuable insights for analyzing the next generation of open source startups in the market.

There is no shortage of contenders in the enterprise application landscape, with numerous competitors adopting different strategies to address the issue. Companies of varying sizes require internal applications, and the development process is often cumbersome, underappreciated, and uninspiring. Solutions aimed at streamlining this process are consequently in high demand. Competitors like Stacker utilize spreadsheet data to enable non-developers to create apps, while Unqork and UiFlow are focused on facilitating no-code app creation for enterprise customers.

Appsmith's next significant move will be the launch of its paid product line, which is slated to happen before Q1 2022 comes to a close. For the time being, the company is well-funded and positioned within a burgeoning market. With the advent of platforms such as AppMaster making strides in the no-code and low-code landscape, Appsmith's open source approach offers a complementary solution for traditional developers seeking to build corporate applications efficiently.