<p><img src="https://static1.businessinsider.com/image/5e69851584159f52e6574642-2400/wade foster zapier ceo-3.jpg" border="0" alt="Wade Foster Zapier CEO and cofounder" data-mce-source="Zapier" data-mce-caption="Wade Foster, Zapier CEO and cofounder"></p><p></p><bi-shortcode id="summary-shortcode" data-type="summary-shortcode" class="mceNonEditable" contenteditable="false">Summary List Placement</bi-shortcode><p>Zapier, the no-code automation company, has never raised multiple rounds of money from venture capitalists. It raised only a $1.3 million seed round in 2012 from Bessemer, Y Combinator, and DFJ, it says.</p><p>So Zapier is proof that a San Francisco-based startup can survive and thrive by creating a profitable company.</p><p>Founded ten years ago, even without a hoard of VC cash, Zapier just completed its first ever acquisition of a startup offering similar, no-code services when it bought Makerpad for an undisclosed price. (Makerpad had also only raised a tiny amount, less than $1 million in seed funding, and was valued at about $4 million, estimates<a href="https://my.pitchbook.com/profile/436731-49/company/profile#deal-history/139080-16T"> deals database Pitchbook.)</a></p><p>The deal between the two stemmed, in an unorthodox way, from a tweet in September, both of the company CEOs told Insider.</p><p>That's when Ben Tossell, founder of education-focused Makerpad, <a href="https://twitter.com/bentossell/status/1305870260625641473">tweeted</a> that of the top tools used by his startup's members, Zapier was No. 2 on the list behind fellow no-code startup, Airtable.</p><p>And this tweet prompted Walter Chen, founder of private markets research firm Sacra, <a href="https://twitter.com/smalter/status/1305964910866771969">to reply with a tweet</a> of his own that said, "This tracks my intuition that if there's going to be a central utility of no code, it'll be either @airtable or @zapier."</p><p>Zapier's CEO Wade Foster saw that tweet and called Tossell. "Wade reached out after seeing this <a href="https://twitter.com/smalter/status/1305964910866771969">tweet</a> that essentially said, 'Zapier should buy Makerpad ASAP'," Tossell told Insider.</p><p>"Wade and I went back and forth and soon realized that our visions for the future of software development were aligned," Tossell told Insider. Six months later, a deal was done.</p><p>Zapier's Foster confirms that Chen's tweet inspired his phone call, but he says it was a different tweet, one that Tossell had written in 2019, that put Makerpad on his radar.</p><p>"For years we've watched in admiration as Ben pushed the limits on what you could build without ever writing a line of code. I'll never forget when he shared <a href="https://twitter.com/bentossell/status/1093921136419713026">this tutorial on Twitter</a> a few years ago," he told Insider.</p><p>Zapier, which has over 400 employees, has been profitable since 2014, has over $140 million in annual recurring revenue and is valued at $5 billion according to <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexkonrad/2021/03/08/zapier-bootstraps-to-5-billion-valuation/'sh=3ea66a4a1c8e">Forbes</a>. Makerpad, founded in 2019, has also seen growth in its userbase which has increased 4x over in the past ten months, Tossell said.</p><p>And even though these two companies didn't drink deeply from the venture well, others are doing so.</p><p>"Huge amounts of money are being raised and invested in no-code, new tools are continuously being developed," Tossell said, "and the community is growing at an exciting rate."</p><p>In fact Tossell himself is an investor. He runs an early-stage rolling fund dedicated to backing other no-code and low-code startups.</p><p>As for joining forces with Zapier, both CEOs say they are happy.</p><p>"I really feel that the two companies are a perfect fit for one another: Zapier is the glue binding no-code tools together; Makerpad is the education and learning community that brings people together," said Tossell.</p><p>"Zapier will continue to make automation easy and Makerpad will teach you how to do it. Together we'll work toward ensuring anyone with a problem or an idea, no matter their technical abilities, can solve it themselves," Foster added.</p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/zapier-bought-makerpad-after-a-tweet-about-its-industry-2021-3#comments">Join the conversation about this story »</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/red-wine-good-heart-health-benefits-healthy-cardiologist-2019-4">A cardiologist revealed the truth behind red wine's health benefits</a></p>
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