No Code Startup With Roots In Europe & Atlanta Raises $33 Million To Help “Citizen Developers”

Betty Blocks, a Netherlands-based application platform as a service (aPaaS) startup with a strong presence in Atlanta, already counts Deloitte, The Salvation Army, and the National Dutch Police as core customers. 

Now, the team has raised $33 million in funding to help non-programmers build apps.

We are focused on business developers and fusion teams to build enterprise-grade applications. To do so, we offer an all-in-one platform, meaning that everything needed to build enterprise-grade applications is found in the same cloud-based IDE (building environment),” CEO Chris Obdam tells Hypepotamus. 

This funding round was led by European Private Equity and Venture Capital investor SmartFin Capital, along with existing investors Morse Investments and NIBC Bank. 

“Digital transformation has only become more important during the Covid-19 pandemic, and as one of the world’s leading law firms we use Betty Blocks to innovate faster and to engage with new generations of lawyer developers,” Paul Greenwood, CIO for law firm Clifford Chance, said in a statement. “Over the past few years, we have built dozens of applications with Betty Blocks to help keep our competitive edge.”

The team currently has 15 employees in Atlanta across sales, support, and marketing roles, and Obdam says part of the funding will go towards expanding the local office. 

Behind the No-Code Movement 

Betty Blocks was an idea initially born when brothers Tim and Chris Obdam started an “illegal” radio station and learned “how to broadcast and program while staying on air with almost no budget.”

The two ultimately started a software company and worked on the side on a platform to “improve software without coding.” 

The goal of no-code/low code platforms like Betty Blocks is to help non-technical people at an organization bring their ideas to life. Instead of needing to know several coding languages, users work with pre-configured, drag-and-drop blocks to create advanced, enterprise-grade apps. 

The goal, after all, is to speed up the innovation process and improve the time it takes to deploy a go-to-market app. 

“The Betty Blocks platform consists of a no-code foundation with low-code functionality on top. This means it’s possible to share custom build building blocks: experienced developers can build with a branded look-and-feel and new functionality. Once built, they can turn it into a building block and share it with the entire organization,” adds Obdam. 

Obdam adds that Betty Blocks takes it a step further and helps enterprise companies implement these citizen development ideas by collecting ideas and app requirements, along with providing coaching and guidance during the building process.

 

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*Photo in story from Betty Blocks’ Twitter Page