04.21.2015
Advanced debugging tools provider Undo Software today announced a fourth funding round of $2m, which will be used to expand the company’s product portfolio, staff numbers, and commercial teams.
The funding comes from a combination of new and existing investors. Cambridge Innovation Capital (CIC), and Sir Peter Michael, the founder of Quantel, Classic FM and California’s Peter Michael Winery, join existing backers of the company. Current investors include Jaan Tallinn, one of the original founders of Skype and Kazaa, and backers from within the Cambridge Angels group. The oversubscribed round closed in April 2015.
Undo Software’s tools enable software companies to dramatically improve debugging, therefore increasing productivity and customer satisfaction. In January 2015 Undo launched Live Recorder, which enables developers to debug exact copies of customer problems, without needing to reproduce them in-house. It joins the UndoDB Linux and Android reversible debugging tool in the company’s portfolio. UndoDB enables developers to record, rewind and replay their code to quickly find critical bugs, increase productivity, and meet development deadlines.
“Undo Software matches our investment criteria perfectly, with its innovative product combined with the ability to achieve significant scale on a global stage,” said Victor Christou, Senior Investment Director of Cambridge Innovation Capital, which provides long-term growth funding for life science and technology companies in the Cambridge Cluster. “Linux is the most widely used computer operating system for enterprise, and debugging costs the industry $156bn a year. The impact of downtime in mission critical software is far greater, so the market potential for a debugger that can be used even after an application is shipped is immense.”
The last twelve months have seen significant expansion for Undo. As well as Live Recorder, it launched UndoDB Out-and-About, a new way of licensing its software, doubled staff headcount, sold and deployed to some of the world’s biggest software vendors including Cadence Design Systems and Mentor Graphics, and was recognized by Gartner as a “Cool Vendor in Application Development” for 2014.
The new investment is being used to bring in world-class talent to strengthen the Undo team, with Elan Tanzer and Michael Whittingham joining as Vice President of Marketing and Vice President of Global Sales respectively. With over 20 years’ experience in the software industry, including roles at ARM and Global Graphics, Elan will be responsible for helping Undo develop and implement overall marketing strategy and execution, directly engage and manage the marketing team, and translate the company’s business objectives into marketing strategies that drive revenue.
Michael comes to Undo from Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu, the fastest growing Linux operating system for enterprise computing, where he was responsible for global business development within the ARM ecosystem. Prior to this he worked at Symbian Ltd where he built its global partnering and alliances organization, driving strategic relationships and delivering licensing revenue with some of the major names in the phone industry.
“Undo has seen tremendous growth over the last year, as we have expanded our product portfolio and signed new customers internationally,” said Greg Law, CEO and co-founder, Undo Software. “The building blocks are in place and our new funding will enable us to accelerate our expansion, targeting the very fast-growing market for advanced software development tools for Linux and Android through a wider product range, greater development resources and increased focus on sales.”
1) Research by the University of Cambridge Judge Business School showed that 49.9% of a developer’s time is spent debugging at a wages cost of US$156bn a year (based on a proportion of the global cost of software development).
undo-software.com
