8base Company Profile

Background

8base, founded in 2017 by Albert Santalo, is a software development company headquartered in Miami, Florida. The company specializes in generative AI-powered solutions aimed at enhancing software design and development processes for businesses, digital agencies, and innovation centers. 8base's mission is to simplify and accelerate application development by integrating artificial intelligence into the software lifecycle, thereby reducing manual effort and expediting time-to-market for digital products.

Key Strategic Focus

8base focuses on providing a low-code, full-stack development platform that enables the rapid creation of enterprise-grade web and mobile applications. The platform is designed to cater to professional developers, offering tools for building data models, custom logic, APIs, and front-end applications. Key technologies utilized include JavaScript, TypeScript, GraphQL, and serverless computing. 8base targets markets such as SaaS solutions, marketplaces, and other web and mobile applications, aiming to modernize traditional development processes and support rapid innovation.

Financials and Funding

Since its inception, 8base has secured multiple funding rounds:

Angel Round (2017): Raised $875,000 from undisclosed investors.

Seed Round (2018): Secured $710,000 from undisclosed investors.

Seed II Round (2019): Obtained $1.8 million from Firebrand Ventures and Blue Note Ventures.

Series A Round (2022): Raised $10.6 million led by Foundry Group, with participation from MongoDB Ventures, Techstars Central LLC, Firebrand Management LLC, 11 Tribes Ventures, Argonautic Ventures Spc, LAGO Innovation Fund II LP, and Alumni Ventures Group LLC’s Strawberry Creek Ventures fund.

The capital from these funding rounds has been allocated towards expanding product capabilities, enhancing sales and marketing efforts, and further developing the platform's features to meet the evolving needs of developers and businesses.

Technological Platform and Innovation

8base differentiates itself through its AI-driven development tools and services:

Archie, AI Product Architect: An AI tool that assists organizations in rapidly designing software products tailored to their needs, providing blueprints with functional and technical design elements.

AI-Generated Backend: A service that uses AI to generate the backend of an application, including data models, test data, custom backend functions, and a GraphQL API.

Backend-as-a-Service (BaaS): A fully-managed cloud service built on AWS, offering shared, dedicated, and self-host options for scaling needs.

GraphQL Engine: A proprietary engine that supports reading, writing, and subscribing to data changes, facilitating the development of web APIs.

These innovations enable developers to focus on building custom web and mobile client interfaces using their preferred frontend frameworks, while 8base handles the backend infrastructure and services.

Leadership Team

Albert Santalo, Founder and CEO: A seasoned entrepreneur with a background as a software developer, management consultant, and SaaS founder. Prior to 8base, he founded CareCloud, a company backed by Norwest Venture Partners and Intel Capital.

Evgeny Semushin, Director of Engineering: Brings over 30 years of experience in software engineering and development.

Ilya Lazarev, Director, 8base Offshore: Oversees offshore development operations, ensuring seamless integration and collaboration across teams.

Sebastian Scholl, Product Manager: Leads product development initiatives, focusing on enhancing user experience and platform capabilities.

David Delgado, Sales Development Representative (SDR): Manages sales outreach and client engagement strategies.

Competitor Profile

Market Insights and Dynamics

The global low-code development platforms market is experiencing significant growth, with projections estimating its value to reach $94.8 billion by 2028. This growth is driven by the increasing demand for rapid application development, cost reduction, and the need for businesses to adapt quickly to changing market conditions.

Competitor Analysis

Key competitors in the low-code development platform space include:

OutSystems: Offers an AI-powered low-code platform for building enterprise-grade applications. Founded in 2001, it has raised $802.1 million and serves approximately 300,000 customers.

Zoho: Provides a suite of cloud-based business management and productivity solutions, including low-code development tools. Founded in 1996, Zoho has a revenue of $1.2 billion and serves 250,000 customers.

Retool: Focuses on building internal tools with a low-code platform. Founded in 2017, it has raised $141 million and serves 100 customers.

Betty Blocks: Offers a no-code platform for building applications without programming knowledge. Founded in 2010, it has raised $33 million.

Bubble: Provides a visual programming language for web and mobile applications. Founded in 2012, it has raised $106.3 million and serves 1 million customers.

These competitors offer varying degrees of low-code and no-code solutions, targeting different segments of the market, from enterprise applications to internal tools and consumer-facing apps.

Strategic Collaborations and Partnerships

8base has established significant partnerships to strengthen its market position and enhance its platform capabilities:

Techstars: Participated in the Techstars Austin Accelerator program in 2020, gaining mentorship and resources to accelerate growth.

Salesforce: Partnered as an AppExchange Salesforce Partner, integrating with Salesforce's ecosystem to provide extended functionalities.

GraphQL Foundation: Collaborates to advance the adoption and development of GraphQL technologies.

Amazon Web Services (AWS): Utilizes AWS infrastructure to provide scalable and reliable backend services.

WeWork Labs: Engages with the WeWork Labs community to foster innovation and collaboration.

The Linux Foundation: Contributes to open-source initiatives and standards within the Linux ecosystem.

Operational Insights

8base's strategic considerations include:

Focus on Professional Developers: Unlike many low-code platforms targeting non-technical users, 8base is designed for professional developers, offering flexibility and control over the development process.

Scalability and Performance: The platform is built to handle the demands of growing applications, ensuring responsiveness and efficiency as user bases expand.

Separation of Backend and Frontend Development: Developers can leverage 8base’s backend and frontend development tools while preserving the option to build custom frontend applications using their preferred frameworks.

Strategic Opportunities and Future Directions

8base's strategic roadmap includes:

Enhancing AI Capabilities: Further integrating AI into the development process to automate more aspects of software design and development.

Expanding Market Reach: Targeting additional industries and use cases to broaden the platform's applicability.

Strengthening Developer Community: Building a robust community of developers to foster collaboration, share best practices, and drive platform adoption.