Apify, a web data extraction platform, has secured €2.8 million in funding.
Apify's web scraping platform allows companies to mine data from websites and extract data for AI. It can also automate any web-based workflow that a human does manually in a web browser and then execute it at scale in the cloud.
One of the company's key services is also an open marketplace with so-called Actors – cloud-based programs that can be easily run, shared, integrated and built upon. Apify offers over 1,500 of these Actors. Its current clients include Siemens, Intercom, Microsoft, T-Mobile, and Accenture.
Founded in 2015 from the Y Combinator Fellowship in Mountain View, California. the Prague-based startup achieved a revenue of €6.7 million and a profit of almost €1 million in 2023. Additionally, it witnessed an 80 per cent growth in revenue for the last quarter of 2023 compared to the previous year.
According to Jan Čurn, founder and CEO of Apify:
“Our last investment was secured in 2019, and Apify has been growing solely from its own profits in recent years.
However, we now see an opportunity in the market to accelerate growth, which is why we have decided to seek further investment. Given our size, we opted for a relatively modest amount, as we didn't want to disrupt the company with a massive influx of capital. This allows us to maintain our financial efficiency and unique company culture while keeping our options open for future investments or exits.
Our current goal is to demonstrate our ability to convert capital into economically efficient growth, attract new customers, and scale our business. Once we achieve this, it may make sense for us to seek a significant investment from global VC funds and attempt to become the next Czech unicorn.”
The investors include venture capital fund J&T Ventures with participation from existing investor Reflex Capital.
Martin Kešner from J&T Ventures shared:
“We have been following the journey of Apify with enthusiasm since 2016 when we first met Honza and Jakub. In that time, they have built cutting-edge technology, a strong brand and an international network of customers.
As a result, they are now in a great position to take advantage of the huge opportunities that are opening up. We believe we can help them grow into a global leader.”
Apify will primarily allocated to marketing, product development, and fostering the growth of the developer community. As part of the investment round, the startup also increased the ESOP pool for employee incentives to a share of about 15 per cent.
Lead image: Apify co-founder Jakub Balada and Jan Čurn. Photo: uncredited.
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