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Mermaid , the open origin diagramming and charting tool , has long been pop with developer for its power to make diagrams using a Markdown - like linguistic process . As is often the slip , Mermaid founderKnut Sveidqvistcreated the project because he see a need for it in his own job as a software designer and then spread sourced it without any immediate plans for monetization . Then , in 2022 , he was approached byOpen Core Ventures(OCV ) , the venture capital firm of GitLab founder Sid Sijbrandij , which later pair him with in series entrepreneur and investorAndrew Firestoneas his CEO .
Now the company , which builds host service around the overt germ project , foretell that it has raised a $ 7.5 million seed financial backing round from OCV , Sequoia and Microsoft ’s M12 fund ( among about a twelve more angel investor ) .
There ’s some irony in Microsoft investing in Mermaid now . Sveidqvist tells me that the initial impulsion for creating Mermaid was a lost Microsoft Visio single file . “ I had to redraw everything . So on the means home , I thought there had to be a better way of doing this . It was also the meter when markdown was part to kick in . Ca n’t we have this as textbook ? That was the idea . subsequently that dark , I sat down in the living room with my Kyd . They were watching TV and I get the project . They were watching ‘ The Little Mermaid . ’ That ’s why I named that eight years ago . ”
early on on , Mermaid was mostly about flow sheet , but over time Sveidqvist added other diagram case — and the community quickly made it its own , too . And it ’s gotten quite democratic . Firestone told me that the cloud translation of the candid source project had 4 million exploiter last class .
The OCV organisation is to attend for popular projection with overbold founders and co - found a company with them to commercialize those task . Often , that means make for in a CEO with business experience to complement what is typically a expert co - founder . What also help oneself , of course , is that these projects already have a track phonograph record , which in turn de - risks the investment quite a act .
“ agree the heart-to-heart source software with the venture studio apartment good example , with Sid Sijbrandij ’s kind of background , with the capital — when you stack those things together , you now you have these seed - stage companies that calculate like they might have been de - risked much as a serial A. You get so much of a view into the future on production - grocery fit , which was really exceptional for me coming in , ” Firestone explained .
Firestone added that gazillion of non - proficient users need schematisation and flow chart tool . That ’s a grocery Mermaid Chart is search to address by building soft - to - role puppet for this group of users . But the overall vision is importantly larger and is n’t so much about disrupting the likes of Lucidchart orMiro . Mermaid Chart wants to go after ServiceNow and interchangeable workflow mechanisation services , Firestone tell me . But that ’s still quite a slipway off .
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For now , the team is straightforwardly focalize on build up out its service of process and attain a broader consultation . Once a company goes all - in on Mermaid Chart , though , the peter has the potential drop to become a critical knowledge base , which can then repose the groundwork to activate the company ’s broader process mechanisation vision .
As a text - free-base tool , there will always be a comparatively high barrier to entry , something the squad is quite aware of . That ’s why the ship’s company recently addeda visual editoras well . That ’s an opt - in feature article , though . Users who want and like the text - establish approaching can continue to do so ( and switch between the two interface at will ) .
In addition , to make Mermaid even more accessible , the squad also trained its own AI model to allow user to make charts with the help of a chat user interface , for example . For paying users , the AI can also fix a diagram when you botch up the syntax .
“ Mermaid ’s open - centre is enjoyed by millions of software system engineers globally , and its software is patronise natively in GitLab , GitHub , and others , ” said Sijbrandij , carbon monoxide gas - founder and CEO of GitLab and founder of Open Core Ventures . “ Mermaid Chart is expanding the residential district by lend the benefit of Mermaid to all types of business users , leveraging AI as a catalyst . The enjoyment cases and business chance neighboring to the engineering science are significant and we ’re aroused to support the squad in this next phase of maturation . ”
Correction : Between my first conversation with Mermaid Charts and today , the team raised more funding and bestow investors . We ’ve updated the report to think over that .
