Google Ventures Doubles Down on Dev Tool Startup Blacksmith Just 4 Months After Its Seed Round
Speed is everything in today’s AI-driven software world, and Google Ventures doubles down on dev tool startup Blacksmith just 4 months after its seed round, signaling confidence in the startup’s rapid growth and bold vision. Blacksmith secured a $10 million Series A in just 14 days, with GV leading the round after first backing the company’s $3.5 million seed in May.
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This latest funding highlights how much momentum Blacksmith has built in a short time, turning early bets into measurable results.
Why Google Ventures Backed Blacksmith Again
Google Ventures initially invested in Blacksmith because of the massive potential market and the strong founding team, which includes veterans from Cockroach Labs, another GV portfolio company. What made GV double down this time was results — and plenty of them.
Since its seed round, Blacksmith has pulled in hundreds of customers and experienced explosive demand fueled by the rise of AI coding agents. This shift opened up a wide market for its developer-first platform.
Blacksmith’s Rapid Growth Story
Blacksmith’s co-founder and CEO, Aditya Jayaprakash, shared in an exclusive interview that the startup hit $1 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR) in February with just four people. Within months, revenue jumped to $3.5 million ARR with over 700 customers, all supported by a lean team of eight.
The startup expects to double that figure by year’s end, cementing its position as one of the fastest-growing developer tool companies in San Francisco.
What Blacksmith Does Differently
Blacksmith offers a continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) service designed to complement GitHub Actions. Unlike traditional CI/CD setups that require spinning up hundreds of machines for testing, Blacksmith optimizes this process, saving developers both time and cost.
By addressing one of the most painful bottlenecks in software development — testing and integration — Blacksmith enables teams to ship code faster without compromising quality.
The Founders’ Background and Vision
Founded in January 2024, Blacksmith was born out of the experiences of its founders, who met at the University of Waterloo before building large-scale distributed systems at Faire and Cockroach Labs.
Their firsthand struggles with expensive and unpredictable build cycles inspired the creation of Blacksmith, a platform built to modernize how developers test, integrate, and ship code in an AI-powered era.
Why This Matters for Developers and the Industry
The fact that Google Ventures doubles down on dev tool startup Blacksmith just 4 months after its seed round shows how much faith top investors have in tools that make software development faster and smarter. With AI reshaping workflows, CI/CD platforms like Blacksmith could become critical infrastructure for developers worldwide.
For developers, this means shorter wait times, reduced costs, and faster releases. For the industry, it’s another step toward AI-driven automation in core software processes.
Blacksmith’s rise is a clear example of how fast-moving startups can capture investor attention by combining technical expertise with market timing. With Google Ventures backing it again, Blacksmith is well-positioned to scale and potentially redefine developer tools in the AI era.
As AI coding agents and automation gain traction, Blacksmith could become one of the defining players shaping how modern software gets built and shipped.
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