A low-key but influential startup called Apiary Inc. is kicking off the week with the completion of a $6.8 million investment meant to help shift the focus from managing the programmatic links that connect applications in the cloud to building them. It’s a key priority that has been overlooked in the broader rush to capitalize on the need for better service connectivity.

More established rivals such as MuleSoft Inc. and Apigee Inc., which filed for a public offering earlier this year, offer developers tools for building application programming interfaces (APIs) as part of platforms dedicated mostly to the latter portion of the project lifecycle. That includes rolling out changes, integrating with new services and monitoring how those services behave.

Apiary, in contrasts, focuses mainly on the building part with its platform, which includes a so-called mock up syntax that allows developers to quickly implement features without having to waste too much energy on the the nuances of the implementation. The underlying execution engine is then able parse that code into a working interface just as if it were written in a full-blown language.

That functionality constitutes the heart of Apiary’s value proposition and is available in the form of an open-source project called Blueprint that made its original debut about four years ago. The startup went on to release a complementary testing tool called Dredd, likewise available under a free license, for simplifying the updating of interfaces.

The tools constitute the core pillars of the startup’s commercial offering, which adds project management features to help enterprise teams collaborate on the development process. Participants can be added and removed as needed and assigned access privileges tailored to the specific responsibilities of roles.

At $99 per month, Apiary’s service has managed to stand out from the crowd, an achievement that the new funding will be used to seize in order to expand adoption. The biggest portion of the $6.8 million came from early-stage fund Flybridge, with the remainder split between Baseline Ventures and Credo Ventures.

Photo via Apiary