Wasp, an open-source platform designed to simplify full-stack web application development, has raised $3.7 million in a funding round led by HV Capital. The investment brings the company's total funding to $5.2 million, providing a significant boost to its mission of connecting fragmented dev tools and streamlining the development process for enterprises and startups.

The idea for Wasp was born out of the frustration of its founder, Matija Šošić, who struggled to build a full-stack production-ready web application due to the fragmented dev tooling landscape. Šošić teamed up with his twin brother, Martin, to launch Wasp in 2021, with the goal of creating a platform that acts as the glue between different platforms developers are already using, including React, Node.js, and Prisma.

Wasp's platform compiles code from different platforms into one web application, spotting and flagging gaps that are common when developers mash together different coding sources. This feature is particularly important in today's market, where numerous new AI coding tools have made coding accessible to non-technical folks. However, as Šošić notes, "vibe coding doesn't work for enterprise," and Wasp can help budding developers build more secure, full-stack web applications.

The company's decision to build Wasp as a layer on top of existing tools, rather than a completely new solution, was deliberate. Šošić explained that this approach eliminates the need for developers to learn a new programming language or process to use Wasp. The platform is open source and can deploy to a public cloud or an enterprise server, making it a versatile solution for a wide range of use cases.

Wasp has already gained significant traction, with 26,000 GitHub stars and a growing customer base of startups and Fortune 500 companies. The company went through Y Combinator's winter 2021 cohort and launched its product into beta in 2023. With this latest funding round, Wasp is now focused on bringing its product to version 1.0, which will include features like support for different languages and server-side rendering.

Šošić expressed his excitement about the funding, stating that it gives the company "a very solid amount of, basically, freedom to work with." He emphasized that the company's focus remains on the core product itself, which is the open-source Wasp framework. With the feedback gathered from the last four years of building, Šošić believes that it's now clear what needs to be built and supported to reach version 1.0.

The funding round also included participation from Fifth Quarter Ventures, Big Bets, and Metis Ventures, among other VCs, as well as Ant Wilson, a co-founder and CTO of Supabase, and Søren Bramer Schmidt, the CEO of Prisma. This diverse group of investors brings a wealth of expertise and resources to the table, further solidifying Wasp's position in the AI spectrum.

As the web development landscape continues to evolve, Wasp's innovative approach to simplifying full-stack web app development is poised to make a significant impact. With its open-source platform and growing customer base, Wasp is well-positioned to become a leading player in the industry, helping developers build more secure, scalable, and efficient web applications.