Low-code developer platforms have gained momentum in recent years, largely because they promise to shorten what is otherwise typically a long application development cycle. According According to data from analytics firm GlobalData, there was a fivefold increase in VC funding to low-code developer platforms from 2021 to 2022.
Demand has waned a bit since then as the focus shifts to AI, particularly genetic AI. But low-code isn’t going anywhere, as evidenced most recently by the low-code developer startup FlutterFlow’s funding round.
FlutterFlow, which builds a low-code platform for mobile app developers, announced today that it has closed a $25.5 million round led by GV (formerly Google Ventures), Gradient Ventures (Google’s AI-focused venture fund ), Xoogler Ventures and Y Combinator , among others, a source familiar with the matter tells TechCrunch — at a ~$170 million valuation. The tranche brings FlutterFlow’s total raises to date to $30 million and will be used to scale FlutterFlow’s business efforts and “significantly” increase its investment in artificial intelligence, according to CEO and co-founder Abel Mengistu.
“If you look at how many people have come online primarily through mobile devices in the last 10 years, it’s a staggering number,” Mengistu told TechCrunch in an email interview. “But… even for large, successful companies with billions of dollars in annual revenue, delivering high-quality digital experiences is the exception, not the rule. This is ultimately the problem that FlutterFlow aims to solve.”
Mengistu founded FlutterFlow with Alex Greaves in 2020. The two met while working at Google on the Maps team, where they became friends.
FlutterFlow is the pair’s second startup after the pandemic doomed their first, a restaurant recommendation app.
“We didn’t make progress [on our first startup] and he closed it in less than a year,” Mengistu said. “After reflection, we realized that we spent too much time trying to build what should have been a relatively simple application on top of backend complexity. That’s when Alex and I decided to work on making it easier to build apps.”
FlutterFlow provides low-code tools designed to make it easy to build apps that run on iOS and Android, as well as desktop operating systems (eg Windows and macOS). Leveraging Flutter, Google’s open source UI authoring toolkit, FlutterFlow creates what Abel describes as “clean” and “maintainable” app source code.
Image Credits: FlutterFlow
There is no shortage of competition in the market for low-code application development platforms. Check out Appsmith, which focuses on business apps, and Builder.ai, a modular app building suite.
However, Mengistu claims that FlutterFlow differentiates itself in its emphasis on an “open” programming approach—that is, allowing customers to develop applications without dependencies on its platform—and a fully centralized governance pipeline. On trend, FlutterFlow is also embracing GenAI, recently launching an AI-powered code assistant that can generate code with a description of the desired functionality (eg “find the distance between two points”).
“FlutterFlow [enables] organizations to create their core building blocks, such as design systems and components, that can be inherited and used across different projects,” said Mengistu. “Supplier lock-in is a great strategy to extract maximum value in the short term, but our focus is on delivering value to our customers.”
FlutterFlow’s strategy seems to work for this. the company claims to have about 10,000 self-service paying customers, ~1 million users, and a handful (between 10 and 20) enterprise customers (mom say how big those enterprise customers are). Abel said the burn is currently “minimal” and that FlutterFlow has “several years” of runway even with accelerated spending.
“FlutterFlow is a tool that allows customers to accelerate timelines and increase productivity,” said Mengistu. “As such, headwinds can be an opportunity for us as decision makers look for ways to execute on ambitious product roadmaps amid increasing financial constraints.”
