Databutton, an online app builder empowering the next generation of innovators and entrepreneurs, has raised €4.8 million in seed funding from Skyfall Ventures and Maki.vc.
Founded on the belief that ideas can, and should, come from anywhere, Databutton allows anyone to build interactive web applications in minutes, using either their own datasets, or by connecting to a growing catalogue of sources, models and integrations.
Databutton was founded in 2021 by unicorn alumni Trygve Karper, Martin Røed, and Viral Shah. The three founders met while working at industrial data platform company Cognite, where they saw firsthand how difficult it was for data scientists and analysts to turn ideas into tools that could be used by other employees. They wanted to build a platform where technical knowledge or skills weren’t a barrier to entry, in a bid to fuel innovation and creativity.
The platform has nearly 5,200 registered users who have built almost 6,400 web applications and counting since January. The funding will be used to accelerate the development of Databutton’s AI-assisted Databutler with a view to leaving beta and going live later this year.
Trygve Karper, co-founder and CEO of Databutton, said: “We’re excited to have secured this funding, which will allow us to bring Databutton to market and revolutionize the way businesses create and share AI apps. Our AI-assisted product will empower anyone with domain knowledge and ideas to unleash their inner superheroes, enabling them to build amazing productivity tools in record time.”
According to its founders, all you need to get started with Databutton is an idea, the determination to build it and a basic understanding of coding. This is because the entire platform is built to work within a browser, and you’re guided through each stage with step-by-step instructions, as well as a powerful AI-assistant developer called Databutler.
Users can chat with Databutler, discuss and build code together, troubleshoot problems, ask for advice and get inspiration. They can connect to online models and frameworks – including Open AI’s GPT-4 (which powers ChatGPT), Streamlit (the open-source app framework used to build and share apps); Langchain’s language model app framework, and more.
Databutton then helps to deploy the code and, because the platform is inherently scalable – thanks to being web-based and being powered by the hugely popular and widespread Python ecosystem – Databutton and its AI-assistant grow with users as their ambition and technical knowledge grows.
Espen Malmo, Co-founder & Managing Partner at Skyfall Ventures, commented: “We believe Databutton has the potential to democratize the data science discipline. With their AI-powered workspace, both adept data scientists and professionals with less coding experience can create insightful and shareable apps. We’re excited to be a part of Databutton’s journey toward helping all businesses to leverage the power of data.”
Paavo Räisänen, Partner at Maki.vc, added: “Business decision-making is better when it is backed by insights from data based on operations. Databutton is putting power in the hands of people to build the tools they need to make their work better and we’re excited to be supporting them as they start their journey.”
Early use cases with Databutton showcase the range of its tools and the creativity of its growing community, ranging from freelancers and people working in agencies, to data scientists in enterprises.
