Lord of the API’s
Let’s see if you can spot the trend in these recent stories:
- API Management Platform Mashery Closes On $10 Million
- Apigee Follows Mashery With Its Own $20 Million Round
- YC-Backed Chute Nabs $2.7M To Become The Twilio For Media Content
Why yes, they are all written by TechCrunch, but that is not the point. While they are all related to funding, that is not the real answer either. The thread that connects these posts comes down to the almighty API. In recent weeks, API’s have figured heavily into funding rounds and key product announcements:
- Taskrabbit – To complement the startups who use the TaskRabbit API to outsource tasks, like Astrid and Producteev - http://bch.me/Qjyhsb
- Zaarly – With startup Zaarly’s new “Zaarly Anywhere” API, available Tuesday and already in use on several sites - http://bch.me/Qjyn30
- Dwolla – Last week the company relaunched its developers portal to make it more accessible to non-technical people - http://bch.me/Qjyvzx
- Echo Nest – The Echo Nest established itself as the leading music big data company by providing open, API-based access to the largest repository of dynamic music data in the world - http://bch.me/QjyBah
- Twilio – The move puts Twilio into a stronger position in its strategy to focus on offering simple cloud-based voice and messaging APIs to developers, and for them in turn to incorporate them into their web, iOS and Android mobile apps as light, client-free features - http://bch.me/QjyNGv
- Edmodo – "The company’s organic growth, its breadth of features and its powerful new API delivery platform have increasingly made Edmodo the go-to network for bringing innovative educational experiences directly to the classroom.“ - http://bch.me/QjyTOm
- Paydiant - Closed a $12 million round of funding that it plans to use to build out its white-label, API-based product for banks and merchants to offer their own branded payments services on Android and iOS devices - http://bch.me/QjyXxI
The rise of API’s should not be a surprise to anyone. Beside the eye popping sums collected by companies like Mashery ($34.7MM) and Apigee ($72.1MM), a quick glance over at the ProgrammableWeb site shows over 6,600 publicly available API’s. Hackathons and various startup events heavily feature the more robust and popular API’s in order to create interesting mashups over a couple of days time. In many ways, API’s around big players such as Facebook, Twitter, and Google were partly responsible for the huge numbers of startups getting launched.
API’s will continue to be a hot area for innovation and investments. It was not too long ago when investors shunned these infrastructure plays. Middleware, application engine, transaction processors, EDI and other integration technologies were complex, expensive, and difficult to sell. Technology has advanced and data has now become more accessible so that integration is simpler. With just a few lines of code, one can receive and send a wealth of information.
What this means is that API’s can no longer be an afterthought for your platform. This is not to say that it should be the first thing you build, but it definitely should not be pushed off as a nice to have. The other thing to consider is that many opportunities exist to innovate in the API space whether it is management, development, or servicing of API’s. If you have a good idea to improve some aspect of the API market, there are plenty of investors and customers willing to listen.
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- jonlehr-blog reblogged this from marksbirch and added:
When people remark on how reduced the barriers to entry to found a startup are, I think that APIs are up there in...
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- juliefredrickson-blog reblogged this from marksbirch and added:
Why yes I do have an API oriented company. Why do you ask?
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