Platform.sh, the secure, enterprise grade platform for web applications, has closed a further $140 million investment. Led by Digital+Partners, Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital and Revaia, with further investment from existing backers BGV, Eurazen, Hiinov, and Partech. The investment allows Platform.sh to expand its team and product development to help secure its market leading positing in North America, Europe, and Asia.
Removing the pain of web-apps
Founded in 2015, Platform.sh removed a big pain-point for web application development, providing a Platform-as-a-Service that can serve a range of systems, frameworks, and languages. This means developers can concentrate on creating and deploying sites and applications without the need for IT and cloud operations. The service also makes it easy to manage distributed development and collaboration, improving productivity and efficiency and reducing their clients costs.
The company can also help the environment. Platform.sh is engaged in the B Corp certification process, and using responsible management to reduce emissions. The combination of solid service and an environmentally responsible strategy has been adopted by organisations big and small around the world, from Adobe, Nestlé and UNICEF, to Gault et Maillau, and the University of Missouri.
Platform.sh has grown rapidly since its foundation. Now headquartered in Paris and San Francisco, it’s flexible working options have resulted in it being accredited as “Great Place to Work” and they currently employ 340 people across 36 countries. A member of the FrenchTech 120 for three consecutive years, it was also recently included in the FT1000 list of the fastest growing European companies.
A platform for growth
Having already experienced rapid growth, the latest investment will support further expansion and growth. As well as supporting expansion of the business through recruitment and further growth in existing markets, Platform.sh intends to use some of the investment to fund acquisitions that support its market. It had already acquired Blackfire in 2021 to support its application performance management, and will be looking for other products that can enhance its offer.
“When we launched Platform.sh, we wanted to build a very powerful cloud platform that simplifies the cloud experience for web developers, making sure they spend time on developing and zero time on cloud infrastructure,” said Fred Plais, Platform.sh’s CEO and Co-Founder. “This latest round of funding will support us as we invest in third-party technology acquisition and continue to innovate.”
The use of web apps is a growing trend, as hardware, software, and infrastructure rapidly improve to enable the creation of web apps that simply wouldn’t have been possible just a few years ago. This creates more opportunities for businesses and developers, but also the need for Platform.sh. A factor recognised by investors. Julian Mattes, Partner at Digital+ Partners, said, “the war for developer talent and the increasing complexity of DevOps tooling drives the strong demand in the website infrastructure market. We feel a strong connection to the team, the vision, and the values of Platform.sh to enable organisations to focus 100% of their time on building amazing experiences.”
Morgan Stanley’s Peter Chung also highlighted the importance of Platform.sh to businesses: “The website is core to the brand and customer experience, and as such, uptime, cross-functional collaboration, and rapid iteration is table stakes. Platform.sh have built the market-leading platform to tackle these issues head-on.”
However, Platform.sh’s environmental credentials might be the main attraction for those businesses that recognise how important responsible sourcing is becoming to many customers and investors. Revaia was among those. While their investment reflected their confidence in Platform.sh’s core offer, partner Morgan Kessour noted that it offered more than just a reliable service: “We share Platform.sh’s conviction that Green Hosting is the next frontier in cloud infrastructure, and we are very enthusiastic to back a company with the highest levels of ambition and ethics.”
