Automated Code Review startup Codacy raises $1.1m to help developers ship better code faster

Codacy, the Lisbon-based provider of code-testing and analysis tools for developers, has raised $1.1m in seed funding.

Now used by more than 8,000 developers around the world, Codacy has found almost 10 billion issues in code in the past 12 months. Errors in code can be incredibly costly for companies with a Cambridge University report estimating the typical 'technical debt’ per line of code to be $3.61.

Codacy has also added support to its tool for Ruby and Java, meaning the tool is now capable of analysing Ruby, Java, Scala, JavaScript, Python, PHP, Coffeescript and CSS.

The latest round of investment was led by Caixa Capital with participation from current investors Faber Ventures, E.S. Ventures, Join Capital and angel investor Henrique de Castro, the former COO of Yahoo, bringing total investment in the company to $1.6m.

"Some developers spend nearly half of their time reviewing code, which is time they could be spending developing new features," said Codacy co-founder Jaime Jorge. “Millions of code issues are created every day and companies will spend large sums of money trying to fix this ‘technical debt’.

"While it is necessary to review code to ensure costly mistakes haven't been made, this process can be mostly automated. Companies are looking for ways to build better software faster and optimize their development processes. Code reviews should be taken into consideration. Our vision is to kill unnecessary code reviews." he continued.

A graduate of London's Seedcamp accelerator, Codacy was chosen as the winner of the 2014 Web Summit Pitch competition, and will be present at the 2015 Web Summit.

Fast growing health and wellness niche creates company opportunities

A growth opportunity

Changes in lifestyle, diet and consumer tastes and preferences have ushered in a wave of fresh opportunity for agricultural companies. Indeed, in recent years public appetite has been growing for foods that are low in calories, high in nutritional value and prepared with natural and organic ingredients. Positively, when taking a longer term view, we believe that this trend is still very much in its infancy.

The large food manufacturers are responding by substantially increasing food offerings that cater to this growing market niche. We are even seeing improvements in labelling nutritional information for products, such as the UK traffic light system, to help shoppers more easily identify healthier foods. 

Over 20% of companies in the Baring Global Agriculture Fund have exposure to this secular health and wellness growth theme. We think there may be scope to further increase this allocation over time. Currently, we have investments throughout the health and wellness value chain from flavours and ingredient companies to natural and organic food manufacturers.

Spotlight on companies

One company within this growth niche that we would highlight is US-based International Flavours and Fragrances (IFF). Over 50% of all IFF’s new flavours contracts are related to the health and wellness theme. Their client base ranges from small local food companies to large multinational corporations like Nestlé and Unilever.

Importantly, while flavour costs are typically less than 5% of the total product cost, they may be a central factor in consumer purchasing decisions. IFF has consistently delivered strong earnings growth and we believe the company can continue to grow earnings at 10% per annum for the next five years and beyond.

Hain Celestial, the US natural and organic food company, is another holding in the growth niche. The natural and organic food sector in the US is growing in high single digits, and we think Hain should be able to sustain earnings growth in the high teens for many years. Hain also owns several UK brands such as New Covent Garden Soup Company, Johnson Juices and Hartley’s jams and marmalades.

Two ingredient company holdings active in the health and wellness niche that we would highlight include UK-based Tate & Lyle and the US-based Ingredion, which provide formulations and solutions for food manufacturers. Tate & Lyle and Ingredion both also have commodity businesses, but the healthier ingredients businesses are faster growing and higher margin, which should improve the investment proposition of these companies over time. Here, it’s also worth noting that Tate & Lyle sold their sugar and molasses businesses for which they are most well known in the UK in 2010. 

Conclusion

While the health and wellness niche is currently in a phase of fast expansion, we believe the forces driving this change present excellent long-term opportunities for the producers that are innovating their food and beverage offerings to capitalise on this growing demand.

If we look more broadly at the shorter term outlook for the sector, we are similarly positive. For the agriculture companies that we hold, they trade at an average price to earnings multiple below the wider global equity market at 13.3x compared to 15.0x for the MSCI All Country World Index.⁵ At the same time, the agriculture equities in our portfolio enjoy a superior growth outlook with a consensus earnings per share growth forecast of 15.8% against 9.3% for global equities.  

Scottish inventor smashes crowdfunding target with toilet brush reinvention

LooBlade campaign draws international attention from retailers and distributors; German distribution deal already signed

Scottish inventor, Garry Stewart, is celebrating an astonishing response on crowdfunding site Kickstarter for LooBlade, a revolutionary product designed to replace the traditional toilet brush.

The 30-day campaign to raise £20,000 reached its target in just 10 days, and is still going strong. With funding for manufacturing now secured, the first LooBlades will be delivered to Kickstarter backers in December, with full retail availability in January.

The international profile generated by LooBlade's Kickstarter campaign has already resulted in contacts from retailers and distributors across the world. As a result, Stewart has already signed a distribution deal in Germany for supply into one of the country’s largest retailers of designer products.

"My long-term goal for LooBlade was obviously to see the product taken on by mainstream retailers, and I've already been amazed at the number of enquiries that have come in since the campaign begun," said Garry Stewart, inventor of LooBlade. "In addition to securing the deal in Germany, I'm also engaged in discussions with companies from countries including the USA, Canada, Australia, Brazil, China, Japan and Taiwan."

The design of LooBlade is centred on the invention of a patent-pending technology called SwipeClean, which replaces the classic brush bristles with an 8-blade silicone cleaning head that maintains a continuous contact with the surface to “swipe” it clean.

After hitting its target on Kickstarter, a new “stretch goal” of £30,000 has been set. This will see the introduction of a new version of the product with a bamboo handle, in addition to the three colours already available.

“The traditional toilet brush is a fundamentally flawed design – they don’t clean efficiently, they clog-up easily, they drip everywhere, they result in excessive use of cleaning chemicals and water, and ultimately people hate the sight of them!” said Stewart. “Bringing the unpleasant topic of toilet cleaning to the Kickstarter audience was a calculated risk, of course, but the speed with which we have achieved our target proves that many people share my dissatisfaction with conventional toilet cleaning options.”

LooBlade does not get clogged up like the bristles of a brush and has hydrophobic properties that sheds water and dries quickly. It reaches under the rim with ease, and contains an anti-microbial additive that helps kill 99.9% of germs, both during and after cleaning. A ‘hollow-point’ head feature also helps act as a plunger to clear blockages, and the unique holder design allows for free air flow to ensure no residual water collects.

The anti-microbial properties of the blades mean that germs are killed outright, so there is no need to use bleach to disinfect it. In addition the clog-free nature of LooBlade means that the multiple flushes often used to attempt to clean a brush are no longer necessary. 

Finally, the disposable attitude towards toilet brushes means that they are typically replaced at least once a year, if not more often, creating unnecessary land-fill. Each LooBlade comes with a 3-year guarantee.

Early backers of the campaign can pick up a LooBlade for just £15.

To reflect Garry’s engagement with social and environmental issues, £0.50 from every LooBlade sold on Kickstarter will be donated to Water Aid.

Link to Kickstarter campaign:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1190311647/looblade-a-toilet-cleaning-revolution 

Link to Kickstarter video:
https://youtu.be/HSLtwUbv3xE