Why We Invested in Codeship

I’m thrilled to announce Ascent’s newest portfolio company, Codeship, a leader in continuous integration and continuous delivery. The company offers a cloud-based platform for developers to automate the laborious process of testing and deploying software updates quickly, reliably and securely. Codeship is 100% SaaS-based, providing the ease of trial and ease of use that is demanded by today’s leading developers. With thousands of development teams already relying on Codeship, they are battle tested and well prepared for the next stage of growth.

As we got to know the company, one of the reasons we became so excited was their understanding and innovation around the container revolution. Codeship supports Docker natively, delivering unmatched speed and flexibility for those customers who are deploying containers and microservices in production. We’ve seen tremendous uptake of Docker across a large swath of enterprises, and Codeship is uniquely positioned to support these companies.

Another reason for our excitement was Codeship’s increased focus on enterprise clients which has produced a substantial influx of new users. Larger enterprises have unique needs in managing the development process, and Codeship’s newest product, Jet, provides the flexibility, security and scalability needed while maintaining the ease of use and speed for which Codeship is well known

But it was not just the product that piqued our interest in investing; Codeship’s leadership is comprised of a dynamic team, led by Forbes 30 Under 30 recipient Moritz Plassnig. Moritz cofounded the company in Austria but moved its headquarters to Boston in 2014 to better position it for rapid growth. Codeship continues to build out its team on both sides of the Atlantic, and is yet another example of the growing trend of European startups moving their headquarters to the Northeast U.S. (Including Ascent portfolio companies Rapidminer and Vee24).

Having joined the company’s board of directors, I look forward to working closely with Moritz and the team at Codeship as well as our fellow co-investors Sigma Prime Partners, Boston Seed Capital and F-Prime Capital. For more information, please find the press release here.