Anima Raises $10M Series A to Convert Designs to Code

Anima Secures $10 Million in Series A Funding

Anima, a platform backed by Y Combinator that converts designs into functional code, has recently finalized a $10 million Series A funding round.

MizMaa Ventures spearheaded the investment, with additional participation from INcapital and Hetz Ventures.

Company Background and Market Trends

Our team has been monitoring Anima’s progress since its inception, noting that the company was initially self-funded until the previous year.

The startup capitalizes on several current market trends, notably a grassroots distribution strategy and the increasing demand for low-code and no-code solutions.

How Anima Functions

Traditionally, a significant portion of a developer’s time is dedicated to translating design specifications into code.

This task, however, often lacks the intellectual stimulation of writing the core code that powers applications, websites, and platforms.

Anima streamlines this process by enabling designers to upload their designs directly from Figma.

These designs are then automatically converted into high-quality code, supporting frameworks like React, Vue.js, and standard web technologies such as HTML, CSS, and Sass.

Furthermore, designers can build interactive prototypes within Anima, allowing the system to understand both the visual appearance and the intended user experience.

Future Development Plans

Co-founders Avishay and Michal Cohen, alongside Or Arbel, have outlined their plans for utilizing the new funding.

A key objective is to expand the team threefold and develop integrations with popular design tools like Figma and Sketch, as well as version control systems like GitHub.

This will allow Anima to seamlessly integrate into existing workflows, facilitating a smoother handover between designers and developers.

User Growth and Adoption

Anima is successfully employing a bottoms-up distribution model to attract users.

The platform offers free access to designers, currently boasting over 600,000 registered users, a substantial increase from the 300,000 users reported in October 2020.

Avishay Cohen also highlighted the growth in active users, with 80,000 monthly active users now, compared to 10,000 a year prior.

Conversion and Expansion Rates

The company reports a conversion rate of over 5% from free users to paying subscribers.

Impressively, 15% of paying accounts organically expand to team-based subscriptions within the first one to two months.

Anima is also experiencing growing demand for enterprise-level accounts, which the founders identify as the next phase of business development.

Challenges and Solutions

Or Arbel noted that a primary challenge has been recruiting talent in a remote work environment.

Anima’s solution has been to broaden its search for talent globally.

The Cohens acknowledged the difficulties of maintaining company culture while rapidly scaling the team from four to thirty members, and continuing to expand.