Google Cloud acquires no-code app building platform AppSheet
AppSheet CEO Praveen Seshadri is adamant that the start-up’s mission and core values will remain the same after the acquisition, which will provide the start-up with deeper integration into Google Cloud.
Within 24 hours of Google announcing its plans to acquire Dublin e-commerce start-up Pointy, news broke that the technology giant is set to purchase another small start-up, named AppSheet.
With a team of just over 20 staff, Seattle-based AppSheet was founded in 2012 and has raised $18.5m from investors Shasta Ventures and New Enterprise Associates. The business is to be acquired by Google Cloud, where it will operate as is, with deeper integrations on the popular cloud platform.
Since it was founded, companies such as Costco, General Electric and Rentokil have used the platform to build low-code apps. According to AppSheet, it has helped to facilitate the creation of more than 1.7m apps.
‘Philosophically and strategically aligned’
AppSheet CEO Praveen Seshadri broke the news in a blogpost, where he said: “We are philosophically and strategically aligned with Google Cloud in a shared commitment to a no-code platform. The AppSheet platform has been live for more than five years.
“As we’ve matured, so has the IT industry, and there is now a tremendous pent-up demand for enterprise automation. With the rise of low- and no-code platforms, citizen development has emerged as the strategic way for modern organisations to invest, innovate and compete.”
Seshadri emphasised that AppSheet intends to maintain its customer-centric focus now that the acquisition has closed. AppSheet will continue to work cross-platform with other cloud-hosted data sources such as Office 365, Salesforce and Dropbox.
The CEO said: “While the majority of our mobile app users run on Android, we will continue to support and improve the way our apps run on iOS and web browsers.”
Seshadri also said that the core mission of AppSheets is unchanged. He said: “We want to democratise app development by enabling as many people as possible to build and distribute applications without writing a line of code.
“That continues to be our mission and it aligns well with Google Cloud’s strategy to re-envision digital transformation with a business-user-centric application platform.”
Google’s perspective on the acquisition
Writing for Google, VP of business application platforms at Google Cloud Amit Zavery explained that there is an increasing demand for faster processes and automation, as today’s competitive landscape requires more business applications to be built with greater speed and efficiency than ever before.
Zavery said: “Many companies lack the resources to address these challenges. This acquisition helps enterprises empower millions of citizen developers to more easily create and extend applciations without the need for professional coding skills.”
Google Cloud said that the acquisition will complement its strategy to reimagine application development with a platform that helps enterprises innovate with no-code development, workflow automation, application integration and API management.
Zavery added: “With this acquisition, customers will be able to develop richer applications at scale that leverage not only Google Sheets and Forms, which are already popular with customers, but other top Google technologies like Android, Maps and Google Analytics.
“In addition, AppSheet customers can continue to integrate with a number of cloud-hosted data sources including Salesforce, Dropbox, AWS DynamoDB and MySQL.”