Merge API Inc., a startup making it easier for companies to integrate their software with third-party applications, today announced that it has raised $55 million in new funding. 

The Series B funding round was led by Accel. New Enterprise Associates and Addition participated as well.

Tech firms often integrate their software with third-party applications to improve the user experience for customers. A company with a software-as-a-service accounting tool, for example, might build an integration that makes it easier to sync transaction records to other financial applications. Often, companies offer not one but several integrations with external tools.

Linking a software product with a third-party service requires connecting to that third-party service’s API, or application programming interface. An API is a channel through which an application exchanges data with other systems. Connecting to an API can require a significant amount of custom code. 

The more third-party services a company integrates with its software product, the more custom code it must produce. Moreover, every integration with a third-party service must be updated as the service changes over time, which creates additional complexity.

Merge has developed a cloud-based platform that eases the task. If a company wishes to connect its software product to three third-party services, it would usually have to build three integrations, or one for each service’s API. Using Merge’s platform, it’s possible to perform the same task using only one API instead of three.

The  startup’s platform functions as an intermediary between an application and the third-party services with which the application is integrated. Requests can be sent to Merge’s API instead of to the APIs of third-party services. The result, the startup says, is a significant reduction in complexity that saves time for developers and speeds up software development.

Merge enables developers to build integrations for more than 150 applications, including popular cloud platforms such as Salesforce and ServiceNow. Over 3,000 companies use the startup’s platform to support their software projects. Merge detailed today on occasion of its new funding round that its annual recurring revenue has increased by a factor of 26 over the past year, but didn’t disclose absolute sales numbers. 

“Our growth over the past year shows how much of a need there is in the market for unified APIs that make building product integrations easier,” said Merge co-founder Shensi Ding.

The startup plans to use the proceeds from the funding round to hire more employees. Merge will expand its product development and go-to-market teams with the goal of growing its workforce to more than 100 employees over the next year. 

Image: Merge