Antithesis raises $47M for software testing automation.

Software testing is challenging. Even with top talent, scaled execution may fail. Electric Cloud found that 58% of developers attributed software failures to test infrastructure and process concerns, not design faults, in 2020.

Unsurprisingly, the software testing industry is huge, estimated at $55.98 billion. There are several vendors, from startups like Qase, EvaluAgent, and Codegen to incumbents like Azure and AWS.

But newcomer Antithesis feels it can shine.

The team behind FoundationDB, a distributed database technology that Apple covertly acquired in 2015, founded Antithesis. The FoundationDB team left after the Apple purchase to work for other big tech companies, but they all concluded that sophisticated enterprises required software testing tools to be more efficient.

In an email interview, Antithesis co-founder and CEO Will Wilson told Eltrys, “So, five years ago, a number of us got back together to build Antithesis.” After years of clandestine operation, we made FoundationDB the sole commercially accessible solution for general software testing by maturing its rigorous testing strategy.

In a separate-from-production, simulated environment with virtual hardware, services, and networking components, Antithesis’ solution continually scans the latest software under development for defects and provides debugging information. Wilson argues that this strategy reduces the time-consuming and difficult process of developers manually writing their own tests.

Antithesis tests software under various settings and characteristics to report unexpected behavior. When it sees unusual activity, Antithesis copies the system state and investigates probable outcomes “more intensely” to find aberrant logs.

Wilson: “Autonomous testing is an important application that can make developers more productive.“ It gives engineers almost half their time back that they would’ve spent on bug-related issues and allows them to develop with confidence.”

Suppose Antithesis’ tech works as stated. Antithesis raised a $47 million seed round from Amplify Partners, Tamarack Global, First In Ventures, and angel investors, including Yext and Roam founder Howard Lerman.

The unusually big seed round values Antithesis at $215 million, according to Reuters and a source told Eltrys.

Wilson stated, “A group of existing investors were very excited by our progress and came to us with a proposal to invest more on friendly terms.” “We jumped at the chance to keep working with trusted people and avoid a big fundraising roadshow with its distractions.”

Antithesis, situated in Virginia, serves Palantir, Ethereum, MongoDB, and other “large enterprises,” as well as startups. Wilson said the financing will boost Antithesis’ sales and marketing teams, engineering and research initiatives, and feature and product development.