DevOps startup CircleCI raised $56 million to supercharge how programmers push code
- On Tuesday, CircleCI announced it raised $56 million in series D funding.
- CircleCI develops continuous integration (CI) and continuous delivery (CD) software, which allows developers to test and release code faster and more often.
- With the funding, CircleCI plans to continue investing in its product, expand internationally, hire more employees, and add data and intelligence features.
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CircleCI CEO Jim Rose says its product has been used to build all sorts of software, from mobile games to autonomous and launch vehicles.
CircleCI makes so-called continuous integration (CI) and continuous delivery (CD) software, a way for programmers to test and release code faster and more often.
With this software, programmers can push code updates multiple times a day. Before CI and CD were introduced, releases only came out a few times a year. On Tuesday, CircleCI received a new round of funding to continue pushing this way of developing software. It raised $56 million in series D funding, led by Owl Rock Capital Partners and Next Equity.
This brings CircleCI's total funding to $115.5 million.
"This is the top of the second inning in the world of software development," Rose told Business Insider, describing the rise of software as a "strategic asset."
A 'nascent' market
Continuous integration and delivery tech has become more widespread with the advent of cloud computing — something CircleCI has directly benefited from, Rose says. It's also becoming a larger market, as research shows that the market for CD tools is expected to grow to $3.85 billion by 2023.
"It's an area that we think is still incredibly early and nascent," Rose said. "We're finding that more and more customers are getting started on that journey. We want to make sure we have the funds to invest in the product they need."
With the funding, CircleCI also plans to increase its headcount to over 300 employees by the end of this year and to invest in supporting its international markets. Rose says that just over half of its market comes from within the US, and the rest comes from all over the world. Just last year, CircleCI opened an office in Tokyo, and CircleCI will also be investing in Europe.
Finally, CircleCI plans to invest in data and intelligence. With this data, CircleCI can provide information about how often companies are deploying new code and how they stack up to each other. It can also identify patterns that work or don't work.
"They can see how their projects are built so they can make their builds better," Rose said. "We'll also be able to benchmark against other customers like them, so they can see what are things they can do to continue to improve."
Rose says the market is still early, which is good news for CircleCI as it grows quickly.
"As it stands right now, we're definitely leaned fully into growing out this business and this market," Rose said. "We definitely believe there's nothing but blue water in front of us."