Coder has completely transformed software development with its browser-based cloud development environment (CDE). Pulse 2.0 interviewed Coder CEO Rob Whiteley to learn more about the company.
Pulse 2.0 (Amit): Are you able to discuss funding and/or revenue metrics?
Coder (Rob): In June, Coder announced a series B2 funding round of $35 million, led by Georgian with participation from Uncork Capital, Notable Capital and Redpoint Ventures. This brings our total series B funding to $65 million and nearly $80 million in total funding to date.
Gartner predicts that, by 2026, Cloud Development Environments will be used to build and deploy 60% of cloud workloads. Our product has seen great momentum across large enterprises and cloud-native organizations, where companies value the flexibility of a self-hosted solution coupled with the enterprise controls needed for security and compliance.
Pulse 2.0 (Amit): What products, features, and expansions will Coder’s most recent Series B2 funding round help to fund?
Coder (Rob): This latest investment will enable us to expand globally, focusing on key regions like Europe to better support and grow our customer base. We’ll also deepen our commitment to our open-source foundation by launching new projects and developing a dedicated developer relations (DevRel) team. We have taken these steps towards introducing several projects within our GitHub library. These include Quartz, a testing library for writing deterministic unit tests; WebSocket, a minimal and idiomatic WebSocket library for Go; and Wush, a command line tool that simplifies file transfers and open shells over a peer-to-peer WireGuard connection. Beyond these developments, we aim to evolve from offering a single product to a suite of tools that empower developers to write code faster and more securely. Starting in April, we’ll be shipping more AI and generative AI (GenAI) workflows. Ultimately, the funding allows us to deliver ever-increasing value to developers through open source tooling.
Pulse 2.0 (Amit): What differentiates the company from its competition?
Coder: (Rob): Coder’s latest funding round positions us to grow from being the No. 1 enterprise cloud development environment (CDE) to the No. 1 CDE overall, enabling us to displace key competitors in the DevOps space. What sets Coder apart is its self-hosted platform. Unlike SaaS-based CDE solutions, we give teams full control over how and where Coder is deployed. This ensures that sensitive source code and data stay secure, eliminating the risks associated with developers’ physical devices or third-party storage.
Additionally, Coder’s cloud workspaces are built on widely used platforms, making them both highly flexible and easy to adopt. This combination of control, security, and flexibility is why top-performing development teams trust Coder.
Pulse 2.0 (Amit): What are your goals for Coder in the next year?
Coder (Rob): This latest funding round was pivotal in securing the necessary resources for Coder to deliver an unparalleled customer experience. We plan on expanding our customer base geographically, accelerating growth through global expansion initiatives, forging new and impactful partnerships, and continuing to create products and solutions that will attract new customer segments. We also plan to grow our existing open-source community by continuing to build and acquire additional open-source projects. This will allow us to broaden our open-source footprint and expand our coder community.
Along with this, we intend to continue advocating for increased developer productivity and the implementation of new tools – including AI-powered tools – to achieve new benchmarks for developer output. This means adding more capabilities to our flagship Cloud Developer Environment product as well as releasing new products.
Pulse 2.0 (Amit): How do you see AI transforming the landscape of software development in the next few years? How can developers utilize AI to their advantage as it infiltrates the industry as a whole?
Coder (Rob): The software development industry has rapidly embraced AI integration. A recent survey found that 81% of software engineers are using GenAI to write code they previously wrote manually. Just two years ago, most developers were not leveraging AI at all, and now the vast majority are. When used correctly, GenAI solves developer productivity challenges, automating routine tasks, offering coding assistance, and streamlining documentation. This frees developers to focus on high-value work and significantly boosts productivity.
However, integrating AI into software development comes with its own set of challenges. Each developer must learn how to utilize AI to their advantage while still maintaining a human touch. GenAI can get you to 80% and a human is required to refine the 20%. If enterprises don’t want to get left behind, it’s crucial to adopt GenAI, although they must do it at their own pace to be successful. Balancing AI assistance with human oversight will help teams maximize AI’s potential while ensuring quality and accuracy.
