Vancouver mobile app toolset platform BuildBuddy raises $1.2 million U.S.

Vancouver-based iterative app development toolset provider BuddyBuild has raised $1.2 million U.S., from investors including Amplify Partners, Bloomberg Beta, First Round Capital, Steve Garrity, Mike Vernal, Douglas Purdy, Dave Johnson, and Debbie Landa.
BuddyBuild soft-launched in October, and is already used by approximately 1,000 businesses building 1,600 applications, including CarFax, Plex, Meetup, Intuit, LendUp, PwC, and Yummly.
“Building software is both a science and an art,” says the company on its blog. “For those who want to know how the ‘magic’ works, you’ll have the ability to drop into the details. For those who want it to ‘just work’, we’ll remove the unnecessary complexity required to perform these tedious tasks.”
BuddyBuild promises to give back the time they’d normally spend writing scripts in favour of focusing on building an app.
Slack co-founder and CEO Stewart Butterfield is an advisor to the company.
BuddyBuild is a cloud-based system for building, testing, getting feedback on and deploying mobile apps, both Android and iOS.
Users can provide feedback on individual builds of an app with annotated screenshots.
BuddyBuild founder and CEO Dennis Pilarinos recently worked as an engineering manager on the Silk browser for Amazon’s Fire phone, after nine years working for Microsoft.
BuddyBuild has nine employees, a self-described “group of ambitious malcontents who are dissatisfied with the status-quo; constantly aware of the potential for improvement.”
BuddyBuild is currently available at no cost, with a pricing schedule promised for Q2 2016.