StepZen, a new company founded by the team behind Apigee (acquired by Google in 2016 for $625 million), is pursuing a distinct approach with its latest venture. They are developing a unified API designed to consolidate data from various sources, empowering developers to create more sophisticated online customer experiences.

The startup officially launched today, announcing an $8 million seed funding round led by Neotribe Ventures and Wing Venture Capital.

CEO and co-founder Anant Jhingran explains that the founders leveraged their extensive experience with APIs to create something even more impactful. “StepZen is a platform that allows front-end developers to effortlessly create and utilize a single API for all necessary back-end data,” he stated.

This effort is focused on delivering a more seamless and consistent experience for customers. Whether accessing order details on an e-commerce platform or checking account balances through a banking application, these actions require gathering information from multiple back-end data systems. StepZen aims to streamline this connection process for developers.

“Developers dedicate a significant amount of time to deploying and maintaining code that accesses back-end systems, and StepZen intends to return that valuable time to them,” Jhingran noted.

Rather than writing code manually to retrieve this data, StepZen allows developers to simply provide configuration details and credentials for connecting to these back-end data sources. The platform then automatically constructs a single API that manages the process of data retrieval and presentation.

Jhingran illustrates this with the example of displaying a customer’s list of open orders. While seemingly straightforward, this task can involve data residing in multiple locations, such as the CRM, order management system, and shipping provider, requiring access to at least three distinct systems. StepZen facilitates the consolidation of this information through its API, delivering a unified view to the user.

Currently, the company comprises 11 employees, including the three founders, and anticipates adding approximately eight more team members in 2021. CBO and co-founder Helen Whelan emphasizes their commitment to building a diverse and inclusive workplace. While the initial team exhibits diversity, they aim to recruit individuals from varied backgrounds and with diverse perspectives to foster a comprehensive product and company culture.

“For our first ten employees, we relied on the networks of people we’ve previously collaborated with – individuals we knew could excel. Now, we’re focused on intentionally broadening our reach and dedicating the necessary time to cultivate a wider pool of candidates,” she explained.

The company is only nine months old and has spent much of this year developing the solution and collaborating with pre-alpha users. The product is currently in the alpha phase, with plans for a software-as-a-service release early in the coming year.

As StepZen emerges from its initial development phase, the team is dedicated to continuing product development and simplifying the user experience as much as possible. “We have a strong understanding of complex back-end processes, possessing expertise in database and API technologies. Our current focus is on translating that knowledge into a simple and user-friendly experience for developers,” Whelan said.