Some days ago, Qase, an Austin, TX-based platform that enables dev and QA teams to conduct manual and automated software testing in one workspace, raised $6.7m in Series A funding. In conjunction with the announcement, Nikita Fedorov, founder, replied to our questions about the company, the product, the funding round, and future plans.
FinSMEs: Hi Nikita, can you tell us a bit more about yourself? What’s your background?
I’m an entrepreneur with over 13 years of experience in web development, software testing and automatization. I have a master’s in solid-state physics and I’m an expert in custdev, product development, team management and customer interaction in agile methodologies.
I started my career as a PHP developer, and in 2016 became head of web development at one of the leading internet holdings. In 2017, I became a team tech lead in charge of billing and payment systems for the largest classified advertisements website in the world.
FinSMEs: Let’s speak about Qase. What is the market problem you want to solve? What is the real opportunity?
The software testing tools market faces significant challenges, including a crowded and fragmented landscape. Companies often rely on multiple tools, ranging from 10 to 40, for their daily testing needs, which can lead to inefficiency. Moreover, the industry struggles with a low ratio of test automation, indicating an ongoing dependence on manual testing. Addressing these challenges is at the core of Qase’s mission to streamline testing processes and enhance software delivery.
While working in web development, I faced a problem: I couldn’t find a test management system that met my requirements for tracking both manual and automated tests with a single tool. All solutions looked a little outdated and focused only on manual testing, so I decided to develop the platform myself. I worked on this idea for 2 years while maintaining a corporate job.
In 2018, after seeing a huge demand on the market for a system like that, I decided to start my platform. I spent two years developing Qase while working at my day job. In 2018, I realized an entire community of people was looking for a platform like mine, so I decided to test it out. In no time, I had gained 100 users and seen plenty more interest. For two years, I’ve seen sustainable growth in users and revenue. In 2020 I realized that it was a perfect time to quit my day job and make Qase my career.
FinSMEs: What are the features differentiating the product from competitors?
Qase is a modern TestOps platform that provides our customers with three core values: test management, test reporting, and test analytics. Qase was built as a single platform for manual and automated testing. It can collect test execution results for both manual and automated tests. We have native integration with the major software testing frameworks and, unlike competitors, we can collect results for end-to-end, integration and unit tests. This allows Qase to provide comprehensive analytics of the software testing process.
FinSMEs: You just raised a new funding round. Please, tell us more about it.
Our Series A funding round has successfully raised $6.715 million, increasing our total funding to $7.265 million. This injection of capital will fuel our marketing efforts, which is a significant step forward as we’ve achieved our current results without substantial marketing expenditure. Additionally, we’ll direct the funds towards further product development, addressing more than 500 feature requests we’ve received. This strategic move ensures that our platform remains at the forefront of innovation, meeting the evolving needs of our users.
FinSMEs: Can you share some numbers and achievements of the business?
In the last six months alone, Qase has identified over a million bugs for 100,000 users and enterprise customers including Asana, SeatGeek and DoorDash-owned Wolt.
