eBay Backs WunderGraph: Open Source GraphQL Federation

WunderGraph Secures Funding from eBay to Address GraphQL API Sprawl

A new open source company focused on resolving the challenges of API proliferation within the GraphQL environment has received investment from e-commerce leader eBay.

WunderGraph announced today that it has successfully completed a $7.5 million Series A funding round. This capital injection is intended to facilitate the expansion of its open source GraphQL federation capabilities.

Investment Details and Strategic Partnership

The funding round saw participation from eBay Ventures, the venture capital division of eBay, alongside Karma Ventures and Aspenwood Ventures.

Beyond financial support, eBay is actively collaborating with WunderGraph as a key design partner. This partnership aims to develop an open source solution that competes with established offerings from companies like Apollo in the GraphQL space.

According to Bryan Woodruff, eBay’s VP of seller experience engineering, this investment in WunderGraph’s platform will enhance eBay’s API infrastructure. It will also empower development teams to innovate more efficiently and effectively, ultimately benefiting eBay’s sellers.

Company Background and Leadership

WunderGraph was established in 2020 by Dustin Deus (CTO), Jens Neuse (CEO), Björn Schwenzer (COO), and Stefan Avram (CCO).

Although a significant portion of the founding team is located in Germany, the company is officially registered in the United States.

Stefan Avram, based in Miami, joined the company in 2022 to provide dedicated leadership within the U.S. market.

The company’s core mission centers around providing a robust and scalable open source alternative for managing complex GraphQL APIs.

GraphQL federation allows developers to combine multiple GraphQL APIs into a single, unified graph. This simplifies data access and improves developer productivity.

WunderGraph aims to streamline this process and address the growing complexity of modern API ecosystems.

A Query Language for Modern APIs

GraphQL, for those unfamiliar, is a data query language designed for APIs (application programming interfaces). It originated at Meta, formerly Facebook, in 2012 during their shift from web-based interfaces to native mobile applications.

Meta made GraphQL open source in 2015, and subsequently transferred project governance to the GraphQL Foundation, operating under the Linux Foundation.

Efficiency Through Precise Data Retrieval

Essentially, GraphQL empowers applications to request only the specific data they require. This contrasts with traditional methods that often result in either over-fetching – consuming unnecessary bandwidth and incurring higher costs – or under-fetching, necessitating multiple requests to gather complete information.

Consequently, GraphQL offers improved efficiency when compared to conventional REST APIs.

Supporting the API Economy and Microservices

More broadly, GraphQL facilitates the growth of the API economy as software development increasingly adopts a microservices architecture. This approach involves constructing applications from specialized, independently maintainable components, a departure from monolithic codebases.

However, as applications expand and the number of APIs increases, managing this complexity at scale can become challenging.

WunderGraph's Evolution

WunderGraph has undergone several phases of development. Initially, it focused on creating a software development kit (SDK) to unify diverse APIs, including GraphQL, REST, SOAP, and databases like MySQL.

By 2023, the company secured a $3 million seed funding round to advance the API revolution. Their vision was to build a collaborative platform – a “GitHub for APIs” – where developers could share and discover APIs.

Apollo's Shift and the Opportunity for WunderGraph

Meanwhile, Apollo had amassed significant funding to support its GraphQL federation initiatives, aimed at enabling multiple teams to collaborate on large-scale applications within distributed architectures.

However, in late 2021, Apollo altered its federation product’s licensing from an open-source MIT license to a proprietary “source available” Elastic License.

This change presented a strategic opening for WunderGraph.

Responding to Market Needs

“By the summer of 2023, we were facing difficulties securing deals and the overall trajectory wasn’t aligning with our goals,” explained Neuse to TechCrunch.

The founders analyzed sales data and consistently observed customer concerns regarding Apollo’s licensing modifications.

“Our data indicated a strong demand for an open-source alternative to Apollo Federation,” Neuse stated. “We recognized that our existing strategy wasn’t effective, and decided to develop and release an open-source alternative.”

The Launch of Cosmo

In late 2023, WunderGraph introduced Cosmo specifically to address this need.

The Impact of eBay's Collaboration

Similar to many vendor-supported open source initiatives, WunderGraph serves as the primary developer and maintainer of its open source project. Beyond Cosmo, the company provides hosting, premium support, and related services. These services can encompass assistance with integrating databases, analytics platforms, authentication systems, and observability tools.

While larger organizations possess the capability to construct their own Cosmo-like solution internally, it's often more strategic to leverage an existing platform. A company focused on, for instance, developing an e-commerce marketplace, would likely prefer to avoid the complexities of building and maintaining every component of its technology stack. Utilizing Cosmo, coupled with support from WunderGraph backed by strong service-level agreements (SLAs), presents a viable alternative.

A Mutually Beneficial Partnership

WunderGraph’s collaboration with eBay has been particularly advantageous. This partnership operates as a reciprocal arrangement. eBay gains access to a flexible, open source GraphQL federation tailored to its specific requirements, while WunderGraph benefits from direct feedback and design insights from a globally recognized leader.

“We possess expertise in federation, however, we lacked experience with the challenges presented at eBay’s scale,” Neuse clarified. “This close collaboration allowed eBay to educate us on the necessary product development considerations for seamless integration into organizations like theirs, given their unique and demanding needs.”

These requirements may include integrating Cosmo with a company’s existing infrastructure and tools, potentially utilizing only specific features of the platform. This realization reinforced Neuse’s conviction that an open source approach is crucial for attracting large enterprise clients who prioritize avoiding vendor lock-in.

The Power of Open Source

“eBay was instrumental in shaping Cosmo into a product suitable for any major enterprise,” Neuse stated. “Proprietary solutions often aim to confine users within a closed ecosystem. The market requires maximum breadth. To attract a wide user base, an open source model is essential; we cannot restrict how individuals utilize the technology.”

With the recent $7.5 million in funding, WunderGraph intends to expand its current team of 20 and further enhance its open source GraphQL federation. This includes developing additional tools designed to improve collaboration and governance for larger enterprises and distributed teams.

“The future of API management lies in open source, as enterprises increasingly demand transparency, flexibility, and control,” explained co-founder Stefan Avram. “We are constructing the foundational infrastructure for the world’s leading platforms, and this funding enables us to scale our operations while upholding our commitment to open source development.”

Key Benefits

• Flexibility: Open source allows for customization and adaptation to specific needs.
• Transparency: Users have access to the codebase, fostering trust and security.
• Control: Enterprises maintain greater control over their technology stack.
• Collaboration: Open source encourages community contributions and innovation.