Google Acquires Appsheet, a No-code Mobile App Development Platform

Google recently announced that they have acquired AppSheet, a Seattle based no-code mobile app development platform. The terms of the acquisition have not been disclosed yet, but it has been revealed that AppSheet will continue to serve its existing customers. 

AppSheet was founded back in 2014 by Praveen Seshadri and Brian Sabino to help businesspeople and others build their own mobile applications without having any coding experience. It received its seed funding from the New Enterprise Associates in 2015 and was recognized as one of the innovative tech startups by TiE in 2018, followed by getting fame of leading a leader for low-code app development for business developers by Forrester Research in 2019.

The platform became the first choice of various small and established brands, including Whirlpool, Pepsi, the Global Cancer Institute, Toyota, American Electric Power, and M&O Partners for making their presence in the IT-powered business world. Something that is a consequence of the set of features it offers, such as the ability to capture, collaborate, and display data, and create a declarative programming model.

“As we’ve matured, so has the IT industry, and there is now a tremendous pent-up demand for enterprise automation,” said Praveen Seshadri. He further added, “With the rise of low-and no-code platforms, citizen development has emerged as the strategic way for modern organizations to invest, innovate, and compete”.

AppSheet has also been integrating AI and NLP technology to further accelerate the mobile app development process and enable businesses to enter the mobile sphere at the earliest.

Till now, AppSheet’s development suite has been used by over 18,000 app creators to deploy around 200,000 apps. And now, when Google acquires AppSheet, the numbers, as well as the results, are expected to be much beyond the expectations of all.

The tech giant, which recently acquired a retail inventory management startup Pointy as well, is expecting to reimagine the app development space by bringing AppSheet services to Google Cloud.

“The acquisition will complement Google’s strategy to reimagine the application development space by helping businesses innovate with workflow automation, app support, and API Management,” shared Amit Zavery, vice president of Google Cloud. He further added, “Customers will now be able to build richer apps that use not only Google Sheets and Forms, but other top Google technologies like Google Analytics, Maps, and Android”.

[Note: As we mentioned above about API management, consider this blog to know in detail about the process and available tools: 15 Open-Source API Management Platforms to Add in Your Tech Stack]

The tech giant expects to employ AppSheet’s ability to power up workplace applications (include CRM, personalized reporting, field inspections, etc.) while keeping Google Cloud’s services focusing entirely on the financial, media, and retail domains.

The Google team also revealed that low-development app development platforms like AppSheet are not going to replace sophisticated development environments. Rather, they will be put into practice to empower mobile app developers to collect extensive, rich data like geographic data and indoor location data from any device and use the insights gained to build user-centric applications. Plus, they will also be able to update and maintain the data set in real-time, without compromising on the security front.

The AppSheet team will soon join Google Cloud. But, they will continue to serve their existing new and existing clients and support iOS apps and web-based mobility solutions.