App development blossomed into a $68 billion global industry last year, and analysts at app-economy research firm VisionMobile believe it could more than double over the next two years. It puts into perspective a fully subscribed seed investment round led by Elevate Ventures with participation by VisionTech Angels and several individual angel investors in App Press, an app creation software company based in Indianapolis.

App Press isn’t releasing the investment amount, but it’s enough to fund a hiring spree targeting software developers, specifically developers with knowledge of JavaScript and Node.

According to the company, this seed round brings together a nationwide coalition of investors who want to “transform enterprise and consumer mobility through a new method of app creation — bringing a design-first approach to mobile app authoring.” It’s the big idea behind App Press: their design-first approach offer designers and other non-technical users a way to create advanced, professional-looking and professional-functioning applications that don’t require coding knowledge.

 

 

App Press currently has more than 100 paying customers worldwide, including Nordstrom, WeddingWire, Simon Property Group and some of the largest creative agencies in the United States.

from the investment announcement press release:

“App Press is at a pivotal point. Companies in all sectors are looking for more efficient, cost effective ways to develop and deploy custom apps to build business and customer relationships,” said Grant Glas, App Press Founder & CEO. “Having Elevate, VisionTech and this strong group of individual investors will give App Press the resources and guidance to rapidly grow our business.”

“We are very impressed with App Press’ strong mobile product offering and the excitement the company has generated from its customer base,” said Phil Lodato of Elevate Ventures. “We are proud to have several B2B software companies in our portfolio that have successfully built upon Indiana’s talent and capital base in that sector. We firmly believe that App Press is well positioned to join those ranks.”

Don Scifres, co-founder and managing partner of VisionTech Partners, is pleased to add App Press to the VisionTech Angels’ investment portfolio. “We are committed to bringing our investors early stage and early growth Indiana-based companies with the potential for strong return on investment. We welcomed the opportunity to invest in App Press, which has a strong, highly desirable solution in the fast-growth sector of mobile apps.”

According to Grant, a lot of people forget to think about what happens after they launch their app, and that’s where problems begin.

“Three years ago it was all about getting your app available on the app store, but today the success of an app comes from communicating with and engaging with users,” Grant said. “It’s all about having the tools to update the app and send push notifications. Once your app is out and once you get it on the stores, then you have a whole new set of problems and app press will help help you solve those.”

Anup Murarka Joins App Press Executive Team

Anup_MurarkaIn other App Press news, former Adobe Director of Technology Strategy and Business Development Anup Murarka has joined the App Press executive team.

Anup’s background is in mobile software, video games and consumer technologies. At Adobe, he focused on how to make the process of creating mobile applications for content easier, which is perfectly aligned with App Press’ mission to transform enterprise and consumer mobility through their design-first approach that doesn’t require coding.

Anup commutes to Indy from his home in the San Francisco Bay area.