uTest, which operates an online community of 30,000 software debuggers, is expanding that community and hiring full-time staff in the wake of its latest $13 million funding round.
The company, which now has 40 full-time employees, wants to double that number to 80 by the end of 2011, said Matt Johnston, vice president of marketing. That's up from just 10 employees at the end of 2008.
With headquarters in Southborough, Mass., uTest now also has an office in Sunnyvale, Calif., the heart of Silicon Valley.
The company wants software developers for both customer-facing and back-office applications, system administrators and other "IT infrastructure people," user-interface designers and product managers, which Johnston called "the scarcest resource" in the startup world. "Apparently, we all went into the wrong profession, because no one can find good product managers," he said wryly.
Among its army of contract workers, what Johnston called "active" testers, meaning those who are working on projects weekly, can make $1,000 a month. The best of those are making $4,000 a month, he said. "That's the upside for our top, most active testers, if they're engaged and in demand." Johnston said.
Pay rates for freelancers are set by the company's own online marketplace. The market is set by scarcity, he said.
"An iPhone tester in Western Europe is more in demand than someone testing business software in the U.S.," he said.
Write to John Shinal
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Press release:
uTest, the world's largest software testing marketplace, announced today that it has closed a $13 million C Round of financing, led by Scale Venture Partners on the West Coast. All previous investors participated fully in the round, including B Round investors, Longworth Venture Partners and Egan-Managed Capital. This brings uTest's total funds raised to more than $20 million across three rounds since the end of 2007. With this investment, Sharon Wienbar, Managing Director with Scale Venture Partners, joins the uTest board.
Sparked by uTest's expansive top line growth in the past 18 months, the funds will be used to increase investment in:
-- uTest's rapidly expanding community of 30,000 professional testers
-- Further developing its testing platform, mobile apps and APIs
-- Enhancing the company's newly launched usability testing and load testing services, as well as expanding into new categories
-- Fueling the continued growth in mindshare and market share of uTest's in-the-wild testing services.
"This was a highly competitive situation – which is a testament to our growth and execution, as well as our belief that all applications need to be tested in the wild. We were blown away by ScaleVP's knowledge of crowdsourcing models, as well as their belief in our vision for the future of software testing," said Doron Reuveni, CEO of uTest. "By enabling software, media and retail companies to get their apps tested in as little as 48 hours – and for a fraction of the cost of traditional outsourced testing – uTest is leaving a lasting footprint on the testing industry."
A new report by research analyst firm Ovum estimates that the mobile apps market will reach $21.3 billion by 2015. "With iPhone, iPad, Android and BlackBerry apps vying for media attention and consumer dollars, the pressure to get apps tested and launched quickly has never been greater," said Reuveni. Additionally, Ovum estimates that the worldwide market for software testing services will reach $56 billion by 2013.
"Huge growth in mobile, social and gaming have made app testing an excellent investment opportunity, and one that is consistent with ScaleVP's software investing strategy," said Sharon Wienbar. "uTest has created a solution that is uniquely aligned with the testing challenges that companies face. Through our extensive research in the crowdsourcing space and the app testing market, we saw repeatedly how uTest has helped companies launch web and mobile applications their users love."
Related: uTest Company Site
