The race for innovation is intense and Cortex Applications Inc. has positioned itself as a game-changer for software developers, offering a fresh approach to streamline their workflows and boost productivity. Backed by some of the biggest names in venture capital, including Sequoia Capital, Y Combinator, and the co-founders of Stripe Inc., Cortex has just secured $60 million in a funding round that catapults the startup to a $470 million valuation.
The funding round, led by Scale Venture Partners, saw participation from other prominent investors such as IVP and Stripe’s founders, John and Patrick Collison. With Scale’s partner Eric Anderson joining Cortex’s board, it’s clear that big names are betting heavily on this rising star. For a company still in its early stages, Cortex has already built an impressive client list that includes tech giants like Adobe Inc., Grammarly Inc., and Opendoor Technologies Inc., all of which rely on its platform to streamline developer workflows.
But what makes Cortex stand out? According to the company’s co-founders, Anish Dhar and Ganesh Datta, it all comes down to one mission: empowering developers to work faster and smarter. After their time as engineers at Uber Technologies Inc. and LendUp, Dhar and Datta recognized the need for a tool that could revolutionize the way developers manage their workflows. Dhar, the CEO, emphasized Cortex’s mission clearly: “We want to make developers move faster.”
The numbers speak for themselves—over 15,000 developers engage with Cortex monthly, using the platform to look up service ownership, improve service quality, or run workflows. And it’s not just tech giants embracing the platform. Organizations like Avianca Airlines, National Geographic, and RH have been longtime customers. Cortex goes beyond the traditional tech sphere.
With more than 30% of Cortex’s customers located outside the United States, the company’s global footprint is expanding rapidly. “IDP is truly a global initiative,” Dhar added, signaling Cortex’s growing international presence.
Cortex’s flagship product: the Internal Developer Portal (IDP), is a centralized platform that allows engineers to easily access the information, services, and tools they need—all in one place. For far too long, engineering teams have lacked a “system of record” akin to the Salesforce dashboards used by sales teams or the ERP systems utilized by CFOs. Now, thanks to Cortex, the VP of Engineering finally has a tool tailored specifically to their needs.
Cack Wilhelm, a general partner at IVP and a Cortex board member, likened the platform to customer relationship management software, noting that it’s as critical for developers as CRM systems are for sales teams. “There’s never really been a central platform for engineering,” Wilhelm said, explaining why IVP has supported the startup.
Sequoia Capital’s Bogomil Balkansky, who has been on Cortex’s board since its seed round, agrees. He emphasized the huge market opportunity ahead, noting that software developers are often slowed down by increasingly complex infrastructures. “We rely on software developers to create and operate nearly everything businesses and consumers touch daily, yet developers find it harder to ship software because they are hamstrung by a growing mess of infrastructure and services,” said Balkansky.
Cortex’s innovation has made the company a category-defining force in the world of developer tools. No longer do developers have to wrestle with endless YAML configurations, complex deployment processes, or time-consuming setups. With just a few clicks, teams can now import a new service from Kubernetes into Cortex, simplifying operations and saving valuable time. The convenience and efficiency brought by Cortex are nothing short of revolutionary—developers can now focus on what truly matters: writing and shipping code.
At its core, Cortex is about solving a problem that has long plagued the developer world. As the startup continues to gain traction and scale, it’s clear that the IDP is becoming indispensable. “Few companies get to define a category, and Cortex is one of them,” Balkansky said, reflecting on Sequoia’s early belief in the company.
With a funding boost and heavyweight backing, Cortex will become an essential part of every developer’s toolkit. For engineering leaders, the platform is more than just a convenience—it’s the long-awaited solution to a decades-old challenge.
No more struggling with outdated infrastructure or hunting down services. Cortex brings order to the chaos, delivering efficiency, simplicity, and speed. For developers, the future looks brighter—and faster—than ever.
