Apropose Closes $1.875M Funding Round Led by NEA and Andreessen Horowitz

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Sept. 11, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Apropose, a software startup developing a web design analytics platform, announced today that it has closed a $1.875 million seed financing led by New Enterprise Associates (NEA) and Andreessen Horowitz, with additional support from Pat Hanrahan (founder, Tableau) and Nick McKeown (founder, Nicira). The financing will be used to scale the company's core infrastructure and engineering team in support of its first product launch this fall.  

Apropose aims to make data an integral part of the design process.  There are over a billion pages on the web today, yet site design remains a thorny and expensive problem: designers find it difficult to justify decisions to clients, clients struggle to articulate aesthetic preferences, and businesses have limited resources to meaningfully evaluate their designs. Apropose's core technology comprises a data-mining and visualization platform that aggregates and classifies visual, structural, and interactive design information across the web.

Apropose's tools enable large-scale visual page search and provide comprehensive web design analytics.  The platform can be used to track evolving design practice, compare site designs within target demographics, and identify and understand prevalent design patterns and pageflows.

"We founded Apropose with the fundamental belief that data can revolutionize design," said Jerry Talton, co-Founder and CEO.  "Design is an integral part of a company's online presence and brand, but trends change so quickly and the space is so large that it's tremendously difficult to navigate.  Apropose gives users creative confidence by putting design data at their fingertips, in a form that makes it easy to search, aggregate, and understand.  The hardest part of the design process isn't building things; it's figuring out what to build. This is where Apropose is changing the game."

"Apropose is poised to impact the massive web design market with their visual design mining capabilities and comprehensive API," said Greg Papadopoulos, PhD., Venture Partner at NEA. "Excellent design has become critical for companies of all sizes and sectors to prosper; Apropose provides real data-driven tools to influence better design. We are thrilled to partner with this talented team of Stanford Computer Science alum as they work to maximize the convergence of design and big data."

About Apropose

Founded by Ranjitha Kumar, Jerry Talton, Maxine Lim, and Arvind Satyanarayan in 2013, Apropose was spun out of Stanford University's computer science department from award winning research in data-driven design.  Based in Mountain View, CA, Apropose's core team includes experts in human-computer interaction, graphics & visualization, machine learning, and probabilistic modeling.  For more information, visit www.apropose.com.

About NEA

New Enterprise Associates, Inc. (NEA) is a global venture capital firm focused on helping entrepreneurs build transformational businesses across multiple stages, sectors and geographies. With approximately $13 billion in committed capital, NEA invests in technology and healthcare companies at all stages in a company's lifecycle, from seed stage through IPO. The firm's long track record of successful investing includes more than 190 portfolio company IPOs and more than 315 acquisitions since its founding in 1977. In the U.S., NEA has offices in Menlo Park, CA; Boston, MA; New York, NY; Chicago, IL; and the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. In addition, New Enterprise Associates (India) Pvt. Ltd. has offices in Bangalore and Mumbai, India and New Enterprise Associates (Beijing), Ltd. has offices in Beijing and Shanghai, China. For additional information, visit www.nea.com.

About Andreessen Horowitz

Andreessen Horowitz backs bold entrepreneurs who move fast, think big and are committed to building the next major franchises in technology. Founded by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, we provide entrepreneurs with access to our deep expertise and insights in innovation, business development, market intelligence, executive and technical talent, and marketing and brand building. Find us in Menlo Park, California, and at www.a16z.com.

SOURCE Apropose