Cypress.io Ditches Frisco Dough to Keep its Web Testing Engine South-Bound

Cypress.io Web Testing Engine.

Testing web applications is both critical and crushing. For developers who want something reliable without the panic of choosing which piping hot, new framework to learn (or be burned by), Cypress.io offers a web testing engine that goes beyond the capabilities of existing testing tools or software. It meets the web’s nonstop evolution with functionality across current, popular frameworks, offering numerous intuitive features that web devs have long been keyboarding about on forums worldwide.

With innovation comes attention. Yet, Cypress has rejected offers from Silicon Valley companies, proactively choosing Atlanta VCs to make their Ponce City Market startup a reality. In fact, this January, Cypress scored $600,000 in seed funding from Tech Square Ventures, BLH Venture Partners, and BIP Capital.

brian-mann“We made a really conscientious decision about being in Atlanta,” said Brian Mann, CEO and Founder of Cypress. “Instead of going to San Francisco, we decided to keep it local, hiring local developers. It was important to us. I help co-organize the Atlanta Javascript Group, and I always wanted to give back, to teach and host events here. I really want to help, to promote the strong developer community here.”

Mann’s instincts on the Atlanta web scene seem spot on. In a recent compilation by Indeed and Sparefoot, Atlanta was named the #1 Best City for Web Developers. Atlanta has the second highest average salary for web developers in the country. This and its top rank on both housing and rent affordability, when compared to other tech cities, make it an attractive destination to code and grow.

There is a significant need for reliable testing. While modern web development has seen fast and dynamic advancements, testing has lagged behind with software not answering to the web’s rapid flux or too many client-side frameworks popping up. Cypress simplifies the labor and complexity of writing tests with painless debugging across browsers, instant feedback, use of familiar tools under one seamless API, and a backend extension that can replace existing server-side tools.cypress-featurescypress-about“In essence, Cypress is software that helps developers automate testing for the web,” said Mann, who explains that, while there are existing tools on the market, they are “just terrible, just awful with tests and are very flaky. Ultimately, the experience of writing tests is so difficult to do that often companies will hire an entire QA team.”

Cypress originated from Mann’s experiences as a seasoned developer. “I was utterly convinced that I had to do this as soon as I knew it was technically possible,” said Mann, who credits his wife Jennifer Mann, Cypress Developer and Co-Leader of Girl Develop It Atlanta, for supporting Mann for 15 months while he took no salary. “I clearly saw that there was a market for this and that people needed it. There were people willing to pay for it. It also coincided with timing in my life to really dive into a startup.”

Since launching just over a year ago, Cypress has hired four developers and is seeking to bring on a Senior Javascript Developer to its team. They are ready to grow with the growth of the today’s web: “In the last four years, the web has really transformed. It has modernized. We don’t have the browser wars nearly as much anymore. Applications are more powerful than ever and there are more logic and behavior in the browser than there has ever been before. The testing tools available have not kept up with the innovation.”

Cypress as a testing solution has already received healthy use from early adopters. (You, too, can request early access here.) Its leadership has also laid down a clear path with the goal to publicly launch in four-six months, and plans to raise a Series A later this year.

Want to learn more about Cypress.io? Check out the testing engine on Github and Twitter. Also, see an example of it in action here: