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French startup Blobber raised $5.4 million (€5 million) in funding a few months ago, led by German VC firm 10x Founders. The company calls itself ‘Shopify for APIs’, which is a good way to sum up exactly what it does. Companies that have an API and want to start selling API access to other companies can use Blobber to run their API repository.
“If you have an API, you can easily connect to Blobber with a few clicks,” co-founder Alexander Ervalt told me. “Then you can define your products, define the use cases of the API. Once you’re done, you can build a business model on top of the API.”
In addition to 10x Founders, FJ Labs, another.vc, and several business angels such as Charles Songhurst, Thibaud Elzier, Quentin Nieckmans, Amaury Sepulcher, Mathieu Waxelaer, and Chris Aldelbach participated in the round. Existing investors New Wave and Seedcamp put more money on the table.
From a technical point of view, Blobr is specifically designed for companies that have created their own API. Since Blobr is about business, it doesn’t help you release an API. But if you’re building an API-first product, Blobber can help you generate revenue faster.
When you want to start using Blobr, you first need to upload an OpenAPI technical document that describes the architecture of your REST API – for now, Blobr only targets REST APIs, which are still the most popular API format.
Blobr then acts as a proxy to access your API. When anyone calls a Blobr-powered API, they first access Blobr’s servers and then are directed to your own servers. The startup’s customers can create DNS rules to make the transition to Blobr as easy as possible.
Once this is done, Blobr helps you generate a branded developer portal with different tiers and price points. Developers who want to use the API can browse the documentation, select the product they want, enter their payment information, and execute the API. Blobr monitors usage, billing, API update alerts, and more. The startup can automatically generate invoices and send consumption alerts to track usage over time.
Unlike Rapid API, Blobr doesn’t want to be the Amazon of APIs. It does not have a central hub to list all available APIs. Instead, the Blobber client controls the relationship with their customers.
In total, Blobr now has 200 customers. No one has ever ‘worn out’ of Blobber as there is no lost customer yet. And as Blobber’s customers grow, Blobber’s recurring revenue also grows in parallel because there is a percentage fee on Blobber’s transactions. But everyone makes more money.
Image Credits: Blobber
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