Portland software startup Knapsack raised $5.5 million from investors that will be used for hiring, product development and marketing.
This round was led by Gradient Ventures and included Parade Ventures, Crosslink Capital, Founder Collective and Slack Fund, according to a news release.
The company has built what it calls a design systems platform. It’s essentially a library of reusable parts that can be assembled into new apps based on the pieces used.
For example, if a consumer brand has already built its own app ecosystem there are common pieces across products, like a button or some other design feature. Instead of building that button from scratch every time for each new app added to the ecosystem, Knapsack creates a pattern for a button and the different variations it could have — such as color, typography, shape — and those pieces can be dropped into the new app build.
“Design systems play a central role in democratizing the way we create and contribute to the apps and websites that make up digital ecosystems,“ said Chris Strahl, co-founder and CEO, in a written statement. “Knapsack provides the infrastructure organizations need to realize both efficiency and quality gains made possible by building with reusable user interface patterns.”
The company has about a dozen employees. The founding team comes out of the agency world, which is where they first saw the need for such a platform.
It is hiring across sales, product marketing and software development, according to its website.
"The pandemic threw digital products to the forefront of our lives. From health care to workplace collaboration, we depend on digital products daily. Yet, how we build these experiences remains incredibly outdated," said Wen-Wen Lam, partner at Gradient Ventures, in a written statement. "By making code more accessible to non-technical disciplines, Knapsack empowers everyone to build digital products."
