Image: WorkOS
Modulz will be wound down this month and its team will join San Francisco’s WorkOS to continue work on open-source developer libraries.
After four years in operation, Dublin start-up Modulz has been acquired by WorkOS, a platform for developers building enterprise software, for an undisclosed sum.
Founded by Colm Tuite and Stephen Haney, Modulz has built a solid community of users around its open-source developer libraries. Radix, its collection of unstyled UI components, has seen more than 4m monthly downloads.
San Francisco-headquartered WorkOS was itself an early Radix user and Modulz was preparing for its v1 release. “With new resources at our disposal, we’ll be able to continue shipping quality UI components,” said Tuite, as these plans now continue as part of WorkOS.
WorkOS is throwing its support behind Modulz’s open-source projects, which will further aid its users in building and shipping enterprise-ready products faster and more efficiently.
WorkOS helps developers add the kind of features their apps and software need to make them enterprise-ready, such as single sign-on and directory sync. Using WorkOS, developers don’t have to build these features from scratch, speeding up development time and helping break-out businesses compete in the well-established enterprise software market.
The company launched just as the Covid-19 pandemic hit in March 2020. In that time, it has reached more than 200 customers including start-ups such as European virtual events unicorn Hopin and video messaging platform Loom.
Following the acquisition, Modulz will be shut down and its team absorbed into WorkOS. Radix will move over to WorkOS and the community Discord will remain open.
Beta Modulz accounts will remain live for the remainder of this month before the company is shuttered on 1 July.
The Modulz team will join WorkOS and continue working on UI projects and open-source software.
“It’s been an exciting ride over the past four years, but we haven’t managed to find product-market fit for Modulz,” Tuite wrote on the company blog.
Tweeting about the acquisition, he said: “When [WorkOS CEO Michael Grinich] first reached out, we chatted for an hour about Radix, helping companies solve time-consuming challenges around [single sign-on] and UI, and the importance of design quality. It was clear I was talking with someone who cares about these things as much as I do.”
WorkOS VP of developer experience Zeno Rocha is a champion of Modulz, tweeting: “Not only do they know how to create easy-to-use products, but they also know how to build amazing libraries with extraordinary documentation. This is rare. Extremely rare.”
WorkOS has a workforce of 40 people across five continents. The company announced a funding raise of $80m at the beginning of June.
“We’re humbled to be well-funded and grateful to have many years of runway, especially in light of current economic conditions,” wrote Grinich on the company blog. “This financing will enable us stay focused on long-term impact, make bold bets, and always put our users first.”
The Series B financing round for WorkOS was led by Greenoaks. Prior investors Lightspeed Ventures, Abstract Ventures and former Stripe product manager Lachy Groom also took part, along with a number of angel investors.
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