US-based CircleCI raises $100M at a valuation of $1.7B; acquires Amsterdam-based Vamp.io

California-based CircleCI is a continuous integration and delivery platform that helps developers rapidly release code with confidence by automating the build, test, and deployment process. In a recent development, the company announced that it has raised $100M (approx €82.27M) in its Series F round of funding.

With this development, the company has achieved the unicorn status as it is now valued at $1.7B (approx €1.39B). Since its inception in 2011, CircleCI has raised $315.5M (approx €259.6M) in funding, to date.

This round was led by Greenspring Associates. In addition, the round also saw participation from Eleven Prime, IVP, Sapphire Ventures, Top Tier Capital Partners, Baseline Ventures, Threshold Ventures, Scale Venture Partners, Owl Rock Capital, and Next Equity Partners.

CircleCI acquires Amsterdam-based Vamp

In addition to the funding, CircleCI has also announced that it has acquired Amsterdam-based orchestration release platform, Vamp.io.

Vamp.io, formerly known as Magnetic.io, is a StartupBootcamp alumnus and was founded in 2013 by Hermen Heinen, Olaf Molenveld, and Tim Nolet. It is a release management solution that simplifies container technology-based software delivery and speeds up business operations. It works with companies that continuously need to release, validate, and optimise new versions of their software.

The platform’s Canary and auto-scaling features enable developers and business teams to deliver higher-quality software in less time. New software versions can continuously be deployed to small percentages of visitors in production, measured and optimised, and then gradually scaled up to achieve stable and risk-free releases with no downtime or performance issues. Vamp partners include Microsoft, Mesosphere, and Docker.

Back in September 2020, Vamp announced the launch of Vamp Continuous Cloud Optimiser, a new machine learning optimisation solution that pinpoints the perfect balance between performance and cost for Kubernetes-running apps.

According to CircleCI, combining Vamp’s release orchestration capabilities with CircleCI’s CI/CD platform will be transformative for engineering teams amid a growing need for increased change validation in the industry.

How will CircleCI use the capital?

Speaking about the use of the funds, Jim Rose, CEO of CircleCI says, “This new capital will allow us to double down on our focus: offering a best-in-class CI/CD platform to increase developer productivity. It also opens doors for business growth opportunities in three areas that we see as the next frontier of software development: continuous validation, data and insights, and managing software complexity.”

CircleCI brings intelligent change management to engineering teams

Founded in 2011 by Allen Rohner and Paul Biggar, CircleCI is a continuous integration (CI) and delivery platform for software innovation at scale. With intelligent automation and delivery tools, engineering teams use CircleCI to reduce the time from idea to execution. 

In the current scenario, the amount of work done is very critical for software teams. Also, maintaining speed can be difficult as apps and systems are now becoming larger and more complex. This is where CircleCI comes into play. The company’s platform allows developers to rapidly release code (for web and mobile apps) they trust by automating the build, test, and deployment process. CircleCI enables developers to detect and fix bugs before they even reach customers. 

Some of the technology giants, including Facebook, Kickstarter, Shyp, and Spotify, use CircleCI to accelerate delivery of their code and enable developers to focus on creating business value fast.

Stacey Epstein, known for her involvement in iconic Software-as-a-Service brands, will join CircleCI’s board of directors.