Mobile apps have become part of the bedrock of how the world at large gets things done and spends a lot of its leisure time, so it is no surprise that the development of them has become increasingly democratized. One of the startups that created a platform to make it easier to build mobile apps is announcing some funding to continue its expansion after passing 3 million consumer and business users and more than 6 million apps developed on its platform.
Thunkable raised $30 million in a Series B round of funding, which provides a set of no-code tools and no developer skills required to develop apps. Lightspeed Venture Partners, NEA and PJC, as well as previous backers Sky9 Capital and the DJ Diplo, are not being disclosed, but the money is coming from an interesting group of investors. The startup has raised over 40 million dollars, including an earlier round.
There are a number of apps that can be used to build mobile apps without the need for coding expertise. They include modesly funded efforts like AppyPie, Builder, Universe, and many more. The likes of Amazon want to be involved in the game. Thunkable thinks it has cracked the code on the challenge.
The CEO said in an interview that they believe they have built the simplest tool for anyone to build mobile apps.
The investment will be used to expand on that belief in a few different areas. They include the development of more of its own tools to build Android and iOS apps; a wider marketplace so that third-party creators can also add their own templates and other tools to the mix; and a bigger push to cater to a wave of businesses and enterprises that have been turning more recently
Think of it as a native mobile app.
No-code and low-code tools have played a significant role in making tech accessible to more people, and specifically the ability to create tailored tech tools. Thunkable is not a startup that is riding on the coattails of a trend, it is veterans and pioneers of the no-code concept as applied to mobile apps.
The pair came up with the idea for the startup a decade ago, when they were at MIT working on the App Inventor Project, which was designed to make it easier for people with no coding skills to create apps.
Saigal said in an interview that they wanted to bring the community of passive consumers of apps into the world of active creators.
The overall design of the app is heavily influenced by the concept of blocks and simply-worded commands that you can bring together in a drag-and-drop interface to build different functions. Its approach is to provide tools that are easy to use in their simplest form but for those who want or need it to be more complex to become more functional.
Saigal said that its initial focus was on consumers, which is another big concept of the moment, that of the creator economy and users, not professional publishers and others.
He said that B2C games saw early traction, and while consumers still form the majority of its 3 million users, it has been seeing a significant surge from the B2B sector. Smaller businesses that don't have the human capital in-house or budget resources to bring in outside developers but need mobile apps for their teams or customers are included. 40% of the Fortune 500 now list Thunkable among their customers, which is surprising since larger enterprises want to bring more of the development closer into the teams that need the apps.
Marketing and logistics, apps for those not sitting at desks, are some of the most popular kinds of apps being created by the latter category of users.
Thunkable has been aiming its services to date, and also the market potential that investors see in the company, as well as the list of investors in this round. Thunkable has been adopted in computer science courses both in K-12 environments and in further/continuing education because of the ethos of making computing and coding more accessible to the mass. Saigal noted that that was part of the appeal for Owl.
We are very excited to partner with the Thunkable team because they have created a truly comprehensive and robust no-code platform that can empower a wide variety of institutions and individuals to turn their ideas into custom native mobile apps.
Saigal said that Diplo came to support Thunkable as part of his larger interest in tech that appeals to the mass market. His portfolio includes the banking app Dave, the sneaker community SoleSavy, and the financial rights organization Hifi.
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