Kitematic, a software startup dedicated to making the Docker development environment accessible to a wider range of developers, has been acquired by Docker Inc. Founded by engineering alumni Jeffrey Morgan and Sean Li (both BASc 2013, Software), and electrical engineering student Michael Chiang, Kitematic sold for an undisclosed amount last week.
The deal closed less than two years after the company was founded. While completing their engineering undergraduate degree, Morgan, Li and Chiang discovered an opportunity during co-op work terms. Software developers needed an easy-to-use, more effective way to build powerful applications using Docker on a Mac. After crowd testing their initial idea for a cloud-based solution, a hungry developer market was identified. Raising funds was next in order to build and market a beta version.
Kitematic got their first financial boost winning $25,000 in the Velocity Venture Fund Finals. Followed by seed financing and mentoring through the Accelerator Centre's JumpStart program - a program made possible by FedDev Ontario, Communitech and Lightspeed Venture Partners. As a result, the first beta, Kite, successfully launched in October 2013.
Kitematic founders from left to right: Michael Chiang, Jeffrey Morgan, and Sean Li
Within a week of the launch, Kite beta, had over 1,000 users. After suffering minor pains post launch, the team took the platform out of the cloud and converted to an open source desktop tool based on user feedback.
While collecting critical feedback from subscribers and Docker user groups, the Kitematic team found themselves on the Docker corporate radar. With support and mentoring from Lightspeed Venture Partners - a group that included fellow Waterloo Engineering alumnus, Lyon Wong, they negotiated a deal.
On the heels of the acquisition, they'll pack up and move to San Francisco, continuing to build Kitematic inside Docker headquarters with plans to launch a similar service for Windows.
Venture Beat article: "Dockers latest acquisition Kitematic built a mac app that runs docker containers."