Code review is a key step in the software development process – it’s when people check a program by looking at and reading parts of the source code. But despite its importance, not all developers are happy with the traditional code review process. For example, Microsoft’s research shows that the results of code reviews often do not match the motivations, due to unrealistic expectations or insufficient developer resources.
Aiming to change code reviews for the better, Jaime George co-founded Codec, which provides information on code quality, security, compliance and performance. After just launching a new product designed to measure engineering performance metrics, Lisbon-based Codasi has closed a $15 million Series B funding round led by Bright Pixel Capital, one of Portugal’s largest employers, Sonae Group Corporate VC.
To date, Kodasi has raised $28 million.
“To stay competitive in a world where every company is driven by software, companies must balance quality with speed of delivery,” George told TechCrunch in an email interview. “Industry’s adoption of remote work has thrown companies into disarray, creating tension between engineers who crave flexibility and freedom and managers who are accountable for results. Many companies have long viewed remote work as a solution to the culture’s decline and deterred them from recruiting and retaining the best possible talent.”
George did a master’s thesis on identifying duplicate code, which sparked his interest in the code review business. In the year In 2012, he teamed up with Codacy’s other co-founder, Joao Caxaria, to launch the startup.
Image Credits: Sincerity
In the ten years since Codacy was founded, the code review market has grown exponentially, with companies like SonarSource and DeepCode — platforms that scan bugs for bugs — raising hundreds of millions of dollars in venture capital. Incumbents like Amazon have thrown their hats in the ring (see: CodeGuru).
But George argues that the scale of Kodasi’s platform is an indicator of its success. In the last 12 months, the platform has seen more than 20 million exposures and according to Jorge, it has reduced the time developers spend on quality reviews by up to 60 percent.
We have to take his word for it – such statistics are difficult to independently verify. But what it is. What can be confirmed is that Codasi sees a strong business opportunity in engineering performance monitoring beyond code reviews. Pulse is the company’s second product focus, which aims to measure things like the frequency of software deployments, lead time to changes to code, and other aspects of software development related to “business impact.”
“Pulse collects metrics that allow teams to understand performance without compromising a healthy culture,” said Jorge. We have seen with our clients the struggle to maintain a healthy performance culture over remote work. Pulse wants to help with this process.
Of course, not every developer comes in with the idea of closely monitoring their work. On the other hand, it may not matter if managers try to measure, or at least measure, individual contributions to projects.
Jorge said Kodasi deletes customer data, including performance metrics, “that are no longer needed to maintain the normal operation of the service.” [the company’s] Product[s]He said.
“Over time… we’ve found that leadership tends to care about metrics that are closer to bigger business results. In other words, leadership is for the forest, not the trees. “That’s why we designed Pulse: to provide a meaningful and integrated set of metrics that management cares about,” says Pulse, non-invasive in nature. “That way, they can follow what their colleagues in other departments are doing by measuring performance in a way that doesn’t affect their engineering culture.”
With a customer base of around 870 brands, including Panasonic and Delivery Hero, and a user base of over 300,000 developers, Kodasi seems to be doing something right. Jorge said the money will be used mostly for product R&D, which includes adding new capabilities to Codacy’s existing services, bringing new services to market and hiring top talent in the company’s engineering, support and success teams, as well as sales and marketing. (Kodasi’s headcount stands at 100 employees today.)
The broader slowdown in technology is becoming beneficial to us as companies hope to automate processes while maintaining quality and understanding their engineering performance. Despite declining frequencies in the industry, we have seen many of our customers increase their use of our product suite,” continued George. “We really pride ourselves on the timeless, dependable nature of software development. It does not depend on cycles and its momentum is built on the back of global digital transformation. Now is the time to get greedy as every company wants to be software driven.
