One of Facebook Inc.'s shrewdest moves was its decision to open its application programming interface. By sharing some of its back-end code, the social networking company allowed software developers to build their own programs
piggybacking on its site or to create bridge applications called "mashups" that combine code from two or more sites.
As more companies open their APIs, the possibilities become multifold. Yet the task of keeping up with all that code becomes a hassle. That's where
Mashery Inc. enters the picture. The six-person startup formed only in spring 2006 on
Thursday announced a second round of funding from Formative Ventures and the Accelerator Group, along with new money from First Round Capital.
Mashery didn't disclose the size of the round, but chief executive Oren Michels told us it was less than $5 million, with marketing specialist Formative Ventures leading and Accelerator, which is run by former Skype employee
Saul Klein, taking a minority stake. Mashery's first round, a seed funding of less than $1 million, came from company chairman Josh Kopelman of First Round (who we
recently profiled in The Deal), along with 20 angel investors.
Mashery has designed a platform that lets companies publish and manage
their APIs rather than build their own infrastructure. For anywhere
between $20,000 and $60,000 per year (or often less than the cost of a
single IT employee), Mashery allows Web companies to outsource their API
distribution. The company is staffing up, but for now plans to marshal its cash.
Among Mashery's 18 customers are smaller players such as live-music destination site JamBase Inc., but Formative's
Clint Chao believes that a wide range of enterprises, and not only consumer Web sites, will publish APIs. Mashery has few, if any, direct competitors, and it may be uniquely positioned to capitalize on the trend.
- Paul BonanosSee Sept. 25 story from Tech ConfidentialSee funding announcement from MasheryFor more on Mashery see
Read/WriteWeb,
VentureBeat and
Intruders
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