CanvasFlip raises $1.2M from Bessemer

CanvasFlip Solutions Pvt Ltd, a firm that offers a prototyping and testing suite for mobile apps, has raised Rs 7.9 crore ($1.2 million) in seed funding from Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm Bessemer Venture Partners (BVP).

Hyderabad-headquartered CanvasFlip will use the money to enhance its product capabilities, as per a press statement.

"This is more than financial backing. Even before this investment, the Bessemer team has been helping us to evolve the product and business model," Vipul Mishra, CEO of CanvasFlip, said.

The startup, which was incubated at Times Internet's TLabs, claims that its platform enables product managers and non-tech entrepreneurs to validate mobile app design by providing usage feedback even before a single line of code is written. It saves development time by offering a do-it-yourself tool to create a demo of the app (with basic design) that can be shared with mentors, employees and stakeholders.

Mishra had worked with Mahindra Satyam (now folded into Tech Mahindra), Citigroup and Yougle.in before launching CanvasFlip along with former colleague Manish Jha in August last year. An alumnus of Rajasthan Technical University, Mishra claims that CanvasFlip works with over 140 enterprise clients. It counts Paytm, MakeMyTrip, Dine Out (TimesCity) and Tech Mahindra, among others as customers.

"Design is playing an increasingly important role in the success of a mobile application. This (CanvasFlip) is a passionate founding team with a deep understanding of the consumer pain point and strong product development skills," Raghav Bahl, vice president, BVP, said.

With over $4 billion in assets under management, BVP provides seed, early, expansion, growth and late stage capital to companies across the world.

As per VCCEdge, the research and data platform of VCCircle and techcircle.in, BVP has positions in over 40 Indian firms. It has stakes in Ola, Snapdeal, Matrimony.com and other top technology ventures.