ZenHub Raises $4.7M to Enhance Project Management
ZenHub Secures $4.7 Million Seed Funding to Enhance Agile Development
ZenHub, a project management service designed for development teams and deeply integrated with GitHub, has announced a $4.7 million seed funding round. The investment comes from BDC Capital and Ripple Ventures, both based in Canada.
This funding represents the first external investment for the Vancouver-based startup, which was initially bootstrapped following its launch in 2014.
Angel Investors Join the Round
Alongside BDC Capital and Ripple Ventures, several angel investors participated in this funding round. These include Adam Gross, previously the CEO of Heroku, Jiaona Zhang, VP of Product at Webflow, and Oji Udezue, VP of Product at Calendly.
New Automation Feature Streamlines Sprint Planning
Coinciding with the funding announcement, ZenHub has launched a new automation feature. This tool is specifically designed to simplify the planning of development sprints, a crucial component of the Agile development methodology.
Often, sprint planning can be a time-consuming and resource-intensive process. ZenHub’s new feature aims to alleviate this burden, allowing teams to dedicate more effort to actual development work.
Responding to Customer Needs
“This funding is a pivotal moment for our company,” stated Aaron Upright, co-founder and CEO of ZenHub. “It provides us with the resources to aggressively pursue our vision and mission.”
Upright explained that the team spent considerable time engaging with customers during the pandemic to understand their evolving needs. A recurring theme was the increasing cost of development resources and the growing pressure on teams.
Automating Complex Agile Processes
ZenHub identified an opportunity to address these challenges through automation. The company’s initial foray into automation began earlier this year with tools designed to improve developer handoffs within GitHub.
This new funding will enable ZenHub to further expand its automation capabilities, starting with sprint planning.
How the Automation Works
The new sprint planning feature allows project managers to assign story points – a standard Agile metric for gauging the complexity of tasks – to each sprint.
ZenHub’s tool then leverages this information to automatically generate a prioritized list of items for the upcoming sprint. Teams also have the option to carry over unfinished tasks from the previous sprint.
Focusing on Development, Not Meetings
By automating much of the standard sprint meeting process, ZenHub aims to free up developers’ time. The goal is to allow them to concentrate on coding rather than administrative tasks.
“Developers often dislike lengthy sprint planning meetings when they would rather be actively working,” Upright noted.
ZenHub Sprints: A Core Feature
This new feature establishes sprints as a central element of the ZenHub experience. Previously, project managers often relied on GitHub milestones to manage sprints.
However, a dedicated tool with integrated automation features offers a more efficient and streamlined approach.
Future Development: Automating Software Estimation
ZenHub plans to introduce another automation feature in the near future. This tool will assist teams in allocating story points to action items, facilitating more focused discussions on complex issues.
This will further refine the software estimation process and optimize team collaboration.
