By Riley Kaminer
If software is eating the world, APIs very well may be the dessert.
Porting some data in here. Feeding some data back in there. Connecting the proliferation of apps and platforms that help us every day is a big business, with the API management market alone being expected to grow 35% by 2025. And it’s a time-consuming feat: 30% of API developers‘ time is spent programming and coding APIs.
Miami-based startup WunderGraph aims to make using APIs as easy and quick as possible. The company has developed an open-source framework creating a unified API across all services and databases. The goal: saving developers time and allowing them to focus on creating value for their companies.
This week, WunderGraph secured a $3 million seed round from Silicon Valley-based investor Aspenwood Ventures, with imminent plans to raise a Series A to further fuel this growth.
Through WunderGraph’s single data pane, developers are able to create custom backends for their various frontends (website, apps etc.) and other data consumers with a single command. This makes it easy especially for frontend developers to work with APIs and build their backend integrations in TypeScript, a widely-used programming language. Using WunderGraph’s architecture, programmers can deploy and change APIs in a matter of seconds.
Since launching last year, WunderGraph has expanded to a team of 15 full-time employees. The company averages around 2,000 downloads every week and boasts an active community of 800 evangelists they call Wunder Warriors.
“We’re growing at about 10% per month,” co-founder and head of growth Stefan Avram told Refresh Miami. He explained that the company currently is focused more on adoption than revenue – hence the focus on building a community around WunderGraph’s product. So far, that strategy has worked, with WunderGraph attracting a wide range of clients such as TripAdvisor, Neurologika, Mr.Yum.
“What we want to create is the GitHub for APIs,” asserted Avram. “WunderGraph is a place where you can collaborate and share APIs with your organization with a click of a button.” Like GitHub, the idea is that users would be able to host and share their APIs through WunderGraph as well.
An Orlando native, Avram moved to Miami to work at a large insurance startup after reading Mayor Francis Suarez’s “How can I help?” tweet. As he worked there as an engineer, Avram also launched his own marketing company. But he soon realized he wanted to build something more scalable.
That is when he signed up for a Y Combinator program that enabled him to find his Frankfurt-based co-founder, Jens Neuse, WunderGraph’s CEO. When it came to incorporating WunderGraph, Miami was a no-brainer for Avram and Neuse. “It has a thriving tech scene with really cool events like React Miami and Miami Tech Week,” said Avram.
“It’s still not Silicon Valley,” Avram added. “But it soon will be.”
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