Sofy raises funds to develop its no-code mobile application testing platform
Sofy, a startup developing a test platform for mobile app developers that it says is used by Microsoft, today closed a $7.75 million funding round that brings its total capital raised at $9.5 million. Voyager Capital led the tranche with participation from PSL Ventures, GTMFund and Revolution, providing cash that CEO Syed Hamid says will be used to support Sof’s overall growth and R&D.
Sofy was co-launched in 2016 by Hamid, Hyder Ali and Usman Zubair. Previously, Syed was an engineering leader at Microsoft for nearly two decades. Ali has also spent most of his career at Microsoft, while Zubair – another Microsoft veteran – has several startups under his belt besides Sofy, including Enfoundery, a technology consultancy for entrepreneurs.
“Software testing hasn’t changed in the past 40 years. It’s still done manually with significant creation and maintenance costs,” Hamid told TechCrunch in an email interview. “Now is the time with advances in machine learning and AI to evolve into a modern no-code testing process and intelligent automation.”
Sofy validates changes to application code directly from existing development environments. By providing information that sheds light on issues in the code, Sofy tries to account for the different devices and operating systems the code could run on, recording metrics such as speed and responsiveness as well as vulnerability. to cyberattacks.
Picture credits: Sofy
“We have a dataset of over 17,000 publicly available mobile apps to enhance our no-code platform and improve app resiliency and efficiency. We are able to run automation on thousands of different device matrices,” Hamid said.
Developers might balk at Sofy’s analytics capabilities, which attempt to quantify developer “performance and productivity.” But Hamid presents them as a net good because, in his eyes, they can lead to faster release cycles.
“There are [major] benefits for the C suite… By releasing applications faster, it impacts the bottom line of the organization, significantly reducing engineering costs,” Hamid said. “Sofy helps organizations deliver better and more innovative apps that provide a better experience for their customers.”
Sofy takes on companies like BrowserStack, which offers a similar testing platform for apps. Autify and Waldo also compete in space. But Sofy will look to stay ahead of the competition with new features, Hamid said, including the ability to test apps for augmented and virtual reality devices.
Sofy’s current customer base stands at 45 companies, although Hamid notes that teams of around 2,500 companies use the service. The startup plans to increase its workforce by the end of the year, from 35 employees to 75.
