The US company buys Europe’s leading crowd testing provider Testhub for several million euros
- Testhub’s team is responsible for operating the Europe business
- Berlin Technology Holding is strategic investor
- More than 140,000 testers in Europe and worldwide
Berlin – May 5, 2014 – America’s leading software testing company uTest acquires Europe’s leading crowd-testing provider Testhub. Both companies are now under one roof with the new name Applause. The Testhub team will lead the European business of the company as an Applause EU from Berlin. The acquisition, worth several million euros, consists of a combination of money and company shares. The Berlin Technologie Holding (BTH) has won an additional strategic investor for Applause EU.
With the merger of uTest and Testhub into Applause, Europe’s largest and most experienced crowd testing company is being created:
- More than 7 years of expertise
- Over 140,000 testers from 200 countries
- More than a million reviews
- Over 50,000 test cycles
- Largest number of internationally active customers such as Deutsche Telekom, Google, Microsoft, Marks & Spencer, BBC and Booking.com
“We are very proud of what Testhub has achieved so far. The merger with uTest – now applause – provides an excellent opportunity to combine global reach with European know-how, “said Testhub CEO Jan Wolter. “We believe in long-term customer relationships, which is the only way to help our customers develop the best-quality apps. This was already the mission of Testhub – as an Applause EU, we will be able to do even better. “
In the course of the changeover to Applause EU, Testhub is planning further new personnel hirings in the coming months in order to meet the upcoming tasks.
Applause will offer the following services on the European market:
- In-the-wild testing services – practical testing under real conditions with thousands of testers. These are offered for web, desktop and mobile applications, and for the entire product cycle, including functionality, usability, security, load, and localization tests.
- Mobile SDK – a free tool for build distribution, crash & bug reporting and user feedback for iOS, Android and Windows phone Apps.
- Mobile Analytics – the professional analysis of the most important app stores enable companies to better respond to user feedback as well as opinions on app quality.
- 360 ° App Quality Dashboard – Brings together the most important data to create an integrated quality app. This ensures a high app quality from the pre-launch to the end of the product life cycle.
The Berlin Technology Holding (BTH) will also act as an strategic investor in Applause EU. The holding company supports applause with its network as well as its great understanding of European market conditions.
“Testhub is the first European crowdtesting startup to have a successful exit, and is now part of the company that invented the crowdtesting method,” said Joern-Carlos Kuntze, founder and managing partner of BTH. “Testhub’s success is the direction for the German market and positions Applause as a clear market leader among the European crowd testing providers.”
The decision for the Testhub takeover fell after a detailed analysis and evaluation of all European crowdtesting providers. “Testhub convinced us because they focus on their customers and employees. Their values and philosophy are consistent with those of uTest and will also play a central role in Applause, “said Matt Johnston, Applause Chief Marketing & Strategy Officer. “The Testhub team understands the European market particularly in terms of localization, fragmentation and data security. This will enable us to offer our customers in Europe a secure and first-class service. “
The acquisition is announced on the same day as the renaming of uTest to Applause. The company had earlier announced that it will increasingly pursue a 360-degree quality app and will also change it’s name to Applause.
“Web and mobile applications – and their inherent quality – have become an important part of brands and companies. The 360 ° -quality approach of Applause allows a clear differentiation from the competition in a competitive app market, “says Johnston. “The usability of an app is by no means purely a matter for developers or quality assurance. CIOs as well as marketing, sales and management have to accept this problem as well. “
“Companies need to constantly collect user feedback and share information to improve the quality of their apps,” said Peter Marston, researcher at IDC. “In terms of the increasing importance of quality, companies will need to allocate appropriate resources for Application Quality Management (AQM) if they want to remain market leaders.”
Since it’s founding as uTest in 2008, Applause has reached many milestones:
- An increase of 80 million US dollars, including $ 43 million from Goldman Sachs in January this year
- Awards for innovation and growth of experts such as Gartner, Forbes and Inc.
- Increase in the number of employees to 160 in North America and Europe
- Opening new offices in San Francisco, New York City and Seattle, as well as the new Applause EU headquarters in Berlin
- Sales growth of more than 4,000% within four years
About Applause
Founded in 2008 as uTest, Applause supports thousands of customers to develop apps that their users love – from web to mobile to wearables. Applause combines in-the-wild tests, software tools, and analytics to create a 360 ° solution for app quality, which companies need to remain competitive in the highly competitive market for apps. Companies such as Google, Fox, Amazon, Box, Concur, and Runkeeper have chosen Applause for their apps to excite users. http://www.applause.com
About testhub
The testhub GmbH was founded in 2012 by Jan Wolter and Torsten Meyer together with the management team consisting of Marvin Burman, Constantin Büker and Roger Braun. Since its founding, the company has won more than 400 customers and expanded the team to over 15 members. Testhub was supported by some well-known Berlin investors without a sale to Applause would not have been possible. Among the active investors at testhub are West Tech Ventures and Möller Ventures.
UTEST CHANGED IT’S NAME TO APPLAUSE
The US company buys Europe’s leading crowd testing provider Testhub for several million euros
Berlin – May 5, 2014 – America’s leading software testing company uTest acquires Europe’s leading crowd-testing provider Testhub. Both companies are now under one roof with the new name Applause. The Testhub team will lead the European business of the company as an Applause EU from Berlin. The acquisition, worth several million euros, consists of a combination of money and company shares. The Berlin Technologie Holding (BTH) has won an additional strategic investor for Applause EU.
With the merger of uTest and Testhub into Applause, Europe’s largest and most experienced crowd testing company is being created:
“We are very proud of what Testhub has achieved so far. The merger with uTest – now applause – provides an excellent opportunity to combine global reach with European know-how, “said Testhub CEO Jan Wolter. “We believe in long-term customer relationships, which is the only way to help our customers develop the best-quality apps. This was already the mission of Testhub – as an Applause EU, we will be able to do even better. “
In the course of the changeover to Applause EU, Testhub is planning further new personnel hirings in the coming months in order to meet the upcoming tasks.
Applause will offer the following services on the European market:
The Berlin Technology Holding (BTH) will also act as an strategic investor in Applause EU. The holding company supports applause with its network as well as its great understanding of European market conditions.
“Testhub is the first European crowdtesting startup to have a successful exit, and is now part of the company that invented the crowdtesting method,” said Joern-Carlos Kuntze, founder and managing partner of BTH. “Testhub’s success is the direction for the German market and positions Applause as a clear market leader among the European crowd testing providers.”
The decision for the Testhub takeover fell after a detailed analysis and evaluation of all European crowdtesting providers. “Testhub convinced us because they focus on their customers and employees. Their values and philosophy are consistent with those of uTest and will also play a central role in Applause, “said Matt Johnston, Applause Chief Marketing & Strategy Officer. “The Testhub team understands the European market particularly in terms of localization, fragmentation and data security. This will enable us to offer our customers in Europe a secure and first-class service. “
The acquisition is announced on the same day as the renaming of uTest to Applause. The company had earlier announced that it will increasingly pursue a 360-degree quality app and will also change it’s name to Applause.
“Web and mobile applications – and their inherent quality – have become an important part of brands and companies. The 360 ° -quality approach of Applause allows a clear differentiation from the competition in a competitive app market, “says Johnston. “The usability of an app is by no means purely a matter for developers or quality assurance. CIOs as well as marketing, sales and management have to accept this problem as well. “
“Companies need to constantly collect user feedback and share information to improve the quality of their apps,” said Peter Marston, researcher at IDC. “In terms of the increasing importance of quality, companies will need to allocate appropriate resources for Application Quality Management (AQM) if they want to remain market leaders.”
Since it’s founding as uTest in 2008, Applause has reached many milestones:
About Applause
Founded in 2008 as uTest, Applause supports thousands of customers to develop apps that their users love – from web to mobile to wearables. Applause combines in-the-wild tests, software tools, and analytics to create a 360 ° solution for app quality, which companies need to remain competitive in the highly competitive market for apps. Companies such as Google, Fox, Amazon, Box, Concur, and Runkeeper have chosen Applause for their apps to excite users. http://www.applause.com
About testhub
The testhub GmbH was founded in 2012 by Jan Wolter and Torsten Meyer together with the management team consisting of Marvin Burman, Constantin Büker and Roger Braun. Since its founding, the company has won more than 400 customers and expanded the team to over 15 members. Testhub was supported by some well-known Berlin investors without a sale to Applause would not have been possible. Among the active investors at testhub are West Tech Ventures and Möller Ventures.