Appentra raises €1.8m co-led by Armilar
Appentra raises €1.8m co-led by Armilar Venture Partners and K Fund for its Parallelware Analyzer software
Written by Manuel Arenaz, CEO & Co-Founder | April 21st, 2020
Today we are excited to announce that Appentra has raised €1.8M in a round led by Armilar Venture Partners and K Fund, also joined by Caixa Capital Risc, Xesgalicia and Unirisco, the investors that had already trusted us in the very early stages of the company. During the last months we have been working hand in hand with the new investors, and we are proud to say that they will definitely bring in a strong expertise as international VCs specialized in B2B software companies, which will help us to fully realize Appentra’s vision.
The boost in Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, Big Data, the development of multicore hardware, along with the democratization of supercomputing capabilities have turned parallel computing into almost the only option to cope with the increasing demand of intensive computing anywhere and anytime. The benefits for our society are clear, for example, in tackling infectious and top prevalence diseases such as cancer, or in the realization of autonomous cars in the future. And now in the COVID-19 era, parallel computing is already playing a key role in the global race towards finding a vaccine to effectively combat the virus and fight against the pandemic worldwide.
But where do we come into play? What is the role of Appentra and its leading-edge Parallelware Analyzer?
Creating high-performance bug-free parallel software that runs 10x to 100x faster is key (even urgent) for companies that today must adopt parallel computing to defend their competitive advantages or create new ones. But accelerating the software runtime through code parallelization and detecting and generating bug-free parallel code is very challenging and time consuming even for developers that are highly skilled in tools, application program interfaces and parallel programming standards. Parallelware Analyzer is the only static code analysis tool in the market that helps enforce parallel programming best practice recommendations in order to prepare the code for parallelization, detect and fix defects (e.g. race conditions), verify data-race free parallel code, discover opportunities for parallelization, and quickly design and implement parallel code. As other professional static code analysis tools, Parallelware Analyzer is designed to seamlessly integrate into DevOps, Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery environments.
As with many other Deep Tech start-ups and early-stage companies, the team’s biggest upcoming goals are to conduct demonstration pilots with corporations in high-growth IT sectors in specific market segments, and to promote the use of Parallelware Analyzer worldwide in Life Sciences, Consumer Electronics, Electronic Design Automation, Oil & Gas and Automotive.
Since its foundation as a spin-off of Universidade da Coruña, Appentra has been building a reputation as a reliable partner and software supplier among its customers in the United States, Saudi Arabia and Europe. Closing this round of investment successfully has already contributed to improving the confidence and trust of our customers and prospects.
Pedro Ribeiro Santos, a Partner at Armilar Venture Partners, noted that "Over the course of the last decade we have been watching how computing architectures are incorporating more (and different) parallel processing units, and yet the vast majority of applications are still being developed under a "standard” sequential coding approach. Parallel code can truly potentiate real-time systems and faster or more elaborate decision models but it is a complex discipline and there is a shortage of skilled parallel developers. Appentra has the potential to be in the driver’s seat of this huge opportunity, helping developers build bug-free parallel code. It is a great example of a unique technology with roots in academia, shaped over more than ten years of research by a great team of founders, addressing a key market need, and backed by a very strong group of investors. It’s with great enthusiasm that we join this journey”.
Xavier Álvarez, ICT Director at Caixa Capital Risc, also noted that "this deal is an example of our commitment with companies with a promising future and innovative solutions based on technology." Álvarez added that "Appentra is a project that perfectly matches the spirit we’re looking for in companies when it comes to investing. It has a solid project and a very attractive product which makes it a company with a high potential growth ".
Creating a Deep Tech startup company is the easy part, but succeeding in building a scalable business requires a talented, highly-skilled and self-motivated team of professionals that enjoy challenging work everyday. All the achievements of the company are thanks to all the contributions of the entire Appentra team. We expect to grow soon, so if you are wondering how to join such an exciting team, the answer is very simple and straightforward. Just reach out!
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About Appentra: Appentra is a Deep Tech global company that delivers products based on the Parallelware technology, a unique approach to static code analysis specialized in parallelism. Our aim is to make parallel programming easier, enabling everyone to make the best use of parallel computing hardware from the multi-cores in a laptop to the fastest supercomputers.
About Armilar Venture Partners, SGFCR, SA: Armilar Venture Partners is Portugal’s leading venture capital funds manager. An independent VC with a 20-year-old history, a high-performance track record and an international footprint, Armilar is a deep-tech investor, investing in ICT, HealthTech and CleanTech with a focus on early-stage technology-based companies. Currently, Armilar has a total of about €260 million under management, with five funds deployed typically as lead investor in seed to early-stage deals in companies in Portugal, Europe and the USA. To find out more and to register for news, please go to www.armilar.com
The Armilar Venture Partners TechTransfer Fund is supported by InnovFin Equity, with the financial backing of the European Union under Horizon 2020 Financial Instruments and the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) set up under the Investment Plan for Europe. The purpose of EFSI is to help support financing and implementing productive investments in the European Union and to ensure increased access to financing. The fund is also co-financed by Fundo de Capital e Quase Capital (FC&QC), managed by IFD - Instituição Financeira de Desenvolvimento, S.A..
About K Fund: K Fund is a Spanish early stage fund with €50 million assets under management. We back the best and brightest Spanish entrepreneurs all around the world.
About Caixa Capital Risc: Caixa Capital Risc, CriteriaCaixa's venture capital management company, is an investor that provides equity and participating loans for innovative companies with a high growth potential. With more than 10 years of experience, Caixa Capital Risc invests in start-up companies. Its investments are concentrated in three sectors: ICTs, health tech and industrial. Currently, Caixa Capital Risc manages, through eight investment vehicles, a volume of over 215 million euros in innovative companies in Spain and Portugal, and has a portfolio of 180 companies.
Through its ICTs area, Caixa Capital Risc invests in initial phases of innovative companies that have projects for B2B markets with a strong technological component, led by committed entrepreneurs, with scalable value propositions, and a vocation to build a global business. Currently, Caixa Capital Risc manages a volume of 73 million euros in the ITC segment, with a portfolio of 40 active companies.
About Xesgalicia: Xesgalicia is the private equity and VC arm of the Galician Government, an investor that provides equity and convertible loans to companies. Xesgalicia invests through 4 specialized vehicles with a capital over 200 million euro, two of them focus on start-ups and innovative companies, from Seed to Series A phases.
About Unirisco: Unirisco is a VC group promoting the creation of companies making use of university knowledge. This is achieved through short-term investment operations in their financing or through other financial instruments, always with the criteria of profitability and job creation in mind.
