Just about every developer wants to create APIs to help other companies connect to their services more easily. However, creating and documenting an API is a time-consuming process. Speakeasy, an early-stage startup, wants to make that an easier and more automated set of activities.
Emerge from Stealth with $7.6 Million Seed Investment
Today, the company emerged from stealth with a $7.6 million seed investment. Speakeasy co-founder and CEO Sagar Batchu describes his startup as an API infrastructure company, which means it’s building tools to make it easier to create and distribute APIs.
The Problem of Simplifying API Development
Batchu sees APIs giving developers a kind of superpower. "As developers, APIs allow us to take advantage of another company’s capabilities," he said. "And so making it really easy to ship those APIs to developers means that we can really help companies accelerate how their products are adopted, as well as we reduce the burden on developers when they integrate with those APIs."
The Goal of Building a Platform of Features
While the goal is to build a platform of features eventually to help with that mission, the company is starting with two tools. The first piece is called Managed SDKs, which helps developers create the APIs. The second piece is designed to help developer end-users implement that API without having to worry about the underlying infrastructure.
Managed SDKs: Simplifying API Development
The Managed SDK piece is generally available starting today. Developers provide an Open API spec, and Speakeasy uses AI to help build a complete API for you along with the necessary documentation, reducing the amount of time it takes to complete a task like this to minutes.
Here’s how it works:
- Validation and Enhancement: Speakeasy uses AI to validate and enhance the spec.
- SDK Creation: It creates SDKs in the most popular languages.
- Publication: The SDK is published automatically to package managers.
This reduces the amount of time it takes to complete a task like this to minutes. "Speakeasy uses AI to validate and enhance the spec, creates SDKs in the most popular languages, and publishes automatically to package managers," said the company.
Terraform Piece: Simplifying API Implementation
The Terraform piece is designed to help developer end-users implement that API without having to worry about the underlying infrastructure. It’s available in beta and allows API producers to easily create and maintain Terraform providers from an OpenAPI specification.
Here’s how it works:
- Terraform Providers: Speakeasy uses AI to generate Terraform providers based on the OpenAPI spec.
- Infrastructure Management: The user can manage their infrastructure without having to worry about the underlying details.
This dramatically reduces engineering burden while unlocking an entirely new developer community.
Remote-Friendly Hiring Philosophy
The startup currently has nine employees, but is hiring engineers to help build out the platform further. Batchu believes being remote will help him find a more diverse workforce.
"The idea of adopting a remote-friendly hiring philosophy means that we’ll be able to access more places, more diverse communities," he said. "It’s definitely something really important to us."
Investment and Growth
Today’s round was led by GV with participation from Quiet Capital, Flex Capital, StoryHouse Ventures, and Firestreak Ventures. Last year the company raised an additional $3.3 million in a pre-seed round led by Quiet Capital with participation from a host of prominent industry angel investors.
Conclusion
Speakeasy is an API infrastructure company that’s on a mission to simplify API development and implementation. With its innovative tools like Managed SDKs and Terraform, it’s making waves in the industry. With $7.6 million seed investment, it’s ready to take off and build a platform of features to help companies accelerate how their products are adopted.