Red Hat
Open source software giant Red Hat made $2 billion last year . That’s not bad for a company whose flagship product is freely and legally available to download from the web. Sure, the company charges for the Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system. But because the product is open source , meaning that anyone is free to modify and share the underlying code, multiple alternatives based on the exact same software that Red Hat sells are readily available. What the company’s customers are really paying for isn’t a copy of the software, which they can get elsewhere for free, but for the support they need to use it. That business model has worked well for Red Hat, which became a billion-dollar company in 2012 , and its success has inspired many entrepreneurs and venture capitalists to invest in products based on open source code in recent years. But despite hundreds of millions of dollars in venture capital flowing into the coffers of startups that sell products based on open source code, many open source developers have struggled to find ways to actually make money from their work. Many open source developers have struggled to find ways to actually make money from their work. Quinn Slack thinks his team at a startup called Sourcegraph may have found a solution. Sourcegraph has released its code search-and-collaboration tool under a license called Fair Source . The Fair Source license is similar to open source licenses except for one thing: it includes a provision that says that any company that has more than 15 employees using the software must pay for it. At the same time, the code is still freely available to everyone, regardless of whether they’ve paid or not. You can still make changes to the software and even publish your own custom versions of it. But users of your modified version, if they hit that 15-employee threshold, will have to pay Sourcegraph too. In the open source world, the idea of paying for code may sound like heresy. But the Fair Source model is one way developers are trying to strike a balance between getting paid and preserving the core values of open source. While the Fair Source license is unlikely to satisfy the most hardcore open source advocates, developers who may otherwise have simply decided to release a closed source product can use it to share their code with the world. “It’s better to be 90 percent open than 10 percent open,” Slack says. Or not open at all. Someone Has to Pay
Fretting over business models for open source software may feel a little odd when companies like Google, Facebook and Microsoft seem to be publishing new open source tools week after week. But while those companies release software that helps them create their products, they don’t typically open source their core products themselves. Google open sourced Kubernetes , which helps it juggle data between thousands upon thousands of servers, but didn’t open source its search engine. Facebook open sourced its old database Cassandra , but it hasn’t released the algorithms it uses to filter your timeline. Microsoft released the artificial intelligence framework it uses to understand voice commands in Cortana, but it didn’t open source Cortana itself, let alone Windows. Developers of open source software that doesn’t originate at a big tech company have had to find other ways to make their projects pay for themselves. Some, like Red Hat, sell support or custom development services. Others, like Alfresco, use open source software to create closed source products that have extra features. A few, like Automattic, sell web-based versions of their software so that companies don’t have to worry about managing their own servers. Still others rely on donations, and many rely on some combination of different business models. Countless open source projects are maintained by volunteers who aren't on anyone's payroll at all. Investors have poured hundreds of millions of dollars into open source startups—Cloudera alone has raised over a $1 billion. But we’re still waiting to see another Red Hat style success story, even as the open source casualties begin to pile up. VA Linux, which sold computers with Linux preloaded, went public in 1999 just four months after Red Hat. Its stock cratered in 2000 and the company refocused on its media and e-commerce acquisitions. All of its assets have now been sold off to other companies. Hortonworks, one of the few other publicly traded open source companies, has yet to turn a profit. Last October RoboVM, which sells tools for mobile app developers, dropped its open source product , complaining that too many companies were using it without paying or contributing back to its development. Days later the startup Famous stopped developing its core product , an open source web development framework, and refocused the company on a web-based marketing product. More recently, a company called ThinkUp, which makes an open source social media analytics tool, announced that it’s seeking a buyer because its hosted service wasn’t earning enough money to pay for continued development. Meanwhile, countless open source projects are maintained by volunteers who aren’t on anyone’s payroll at all. When project maintainers can work on projects only in their spare time, critical bugs, such as the well-publicized “ Heartbleed ” security flaw, can slip through the cracks. Non-profit organizations like the Linux Foundation have stepped in to help fund a growing number of projects in recent years . For example, the Linux Foundation started the Core Infrastructure Initiative to help fund OpenSSL and other crucial but obscure open source projects. But these sorts of initiatives work best as a way to fund open source projects that a large number of big companies rely on. Important projects can still fall by the wayside. Code Into Cash
The obvious answer, from a business perspective at least, would be to follow Microsoft, Google, and Oracle’s lead and simply not release your core product as open source. But that’s a difficult proposition these days, especially for products that are aimed at developers. “It’s not the way developers like to build software, they don’t trust it as much,” says Slack, who contributed to open source projects such as OpenSSL before starting Sourcegraph. And the idea of building a closed source product based on open source software—a so-called “open core” product—didn’t make sense to him either. “It seems to pit us versus the customers,” he says. “It was always ‘what do we withhold from our customers. '”
Simply selling support is always an option, but an ideal product is so easy to use that it doesn’t need much support. So Slack and company finally hit on the idea of just adding a provision to their license, which was drawn up by open source legal expert Heather Meeker, to simply require companies to pay. More Open Source

One Startup’s Heretical Plan to Turn Open Source Code Into Cash

23/10/2015
· Sweden , USA · Software · All Deals
Xamarin has announced that it acquired RoboVM. Xamarin is the leading enterprise mobility solution and the only mobile application development platform that enables native iOS and Android development in C#. RoboVM is the only company in the industry that enables native iOS and Android development in Java. The acquisition brings together the top two languages in enterprise development and a path to mobile for nearly every enterprise developer. “If you love Java, you are going to love RoboVM for iOS and Android development.”
The two companies have taken nearly identical approaches to enabling successful enterprise mobility. Xamarin and RoboVM apps are fully native iOS and Android apps—native UI, native performance, and complete access all of APIs for each device platform—built from a shared code base across device platforms. Xamarin is the only company with this approach for C# developers, and RoboVM is the only company with this approach for Java developers. The acquisition means that Xamarin now controls the cross-platform mobile development market for the most widely adopted languages capable of native, client-to-server, cloud-to-mobile development. “If Xamarin were to build a Java solution from scratch, it would look like RoboVM because they took the same native-first approach in their design,” says Nat Friedman, CEO and Xamarin cofounder. “If you love Java, you are going to love RoboVM for iOS and Android development.”
IDC estimates that between five and seven million developers work in Java, making it one of the largest developer ecosystems in the industry ( source ). The language for enterprise applications and data center operations, as well as for Android app development, Java is used in a broad array of devices beyond smartphones and tablets, including: wearables, cars, drones, TVs, refrigerators, and many other IoT devices. While enterprises have largely skilled internal development teams, they struggle to fully staff the capabilities needed for iOS and Android development; Forrester reports that 50% of organizations have fewer than five developers in-house, barely enough to field a single mobile team, especially if app is built for both iOS and Android. ( source )
RoboVM allows enterprises to achieve broach reach and easily extend native, Java-based Android apps to iOS—or to develop iOS apps from scratch—all while leveraging their Java skills, resources, and code. “Our mission is to enable Java developers to create beautiful native mobile apps quickly,” says Henric Müller, CEO at RoboVM. “Xamarin’s market-leading position in enterprise mobility means that we will be able to scale our reach and enable mobile success for millions of developers.”
Xamarin takes its hyper-growth model to the Java market
Key to Xamarin’s success is the large, global C# developer community that has transitioned to mobile development via the Xamarin Platform. Unique developer downloads have more than doubled in the last year, now at over 1.2 million, and sales have grown at an even faster rate. Xamarin and RoboVM will operate independently to ensure each team stays focused on their C# and Java user bases respectively. RoboVM will leverage Xamarin’s growth models in developer marketing, sales, and customer success to scale their business; and RoboVM customers will benefit from Xamarin’s enterprise-grade mobile expertise and full mobile lifecycle offerings. Following a $54 million series C funding round in August of 2014—the largest single round of any mobile app platform company—Xamarin expanded into adjacent areas of the mobile application lifecycle with Xamarin Test Cloud and Xamarin Insights . Xamarin Test Cloud ensures high quality apps by allowing customers to test apps on over 2,000 devices and receive results within minutes, versus the days or weeks-long feedback cycle of manual testing. The service works for any native or hybrid app, not just apps built in C# with the Xamarin Platform. Xamarin Insights provides sophisticated crash and user reporting to further improve app quality and performance for mobile C# developers. The company will soon bring this functionality to Java developers targeting iOS and Android. This acquisition gives Xamarin another built-in source of new customers for Xamarin Test Cloud and Xamarin Insights, and new lifecycle products as the company expands its product portfolio. According to Al Hilwa, Program Director for IDC’s Application Development Software research, “Using a cross-platform application development approach has emerged as one of the most popular approaches for building enterprise mobile apps, especially when coupled with generation of native platform code. Xamarin is able to address the two largest ecosystems for native mobile application development today with its support for C# and Java.”
To learn more about Xamarin, view the company’s enterprise offerings. To learn more about the acquisition of RoboVM, visit: https://robovm.com/blog/ . About Xamarin
Xamarin is the new standard for enterprise mobile development and quality. With over 1.2 million developer downloads and a global customer base in 120 countries, Xamarin is used to accelerate the creation of high-quality, high-performance, mission-critical consumer and enterprise apps. Xamarin powers mobile development for more than 100 of the Fortune 500 companies and is a Visionary in Gartner’s 2015 Magic Quadrant report for Mobile Application Development Platforms. For more information, please visit: xamarin.com or follow us @xamarinhq.

Xamarin, US app development platform, acquires Swedish mobile app devloper RoboVM

By FinSMEs
Xamarin , a San Francisco, CA-based provider of a mobile application development platform that enables native iOS and Android development in C#, acquired RoboVM , a Göteborg, Sweden-based provider of a platform that enables native iOS and Android development in Java. The amount of the deal was not disclosed. Led by Henric Müller, CEO, RoboVM provides enterprises with tools to extend native, Java-based Android apps to iOS—or to develop iOS apps from scratch while leveraging their Java skills, resources, and code. The acquisition aims to unify the top two languages in enterprise development and a path to mobile for nearly every enterprise developer. This means that Xamarin now controls the cross-platform mobile development market for the most widely adopted languages capable of native, client-to-server, cloud-to-mobile development. The two companies will operate independently to ensure each team stays focused on their C# and Java user bases respectively. RoboVM will leverage Xamarin’s growth models in developer marketing, sales, and customer success to scale their business while RoboVM customers will benefit from Xamarin’s mobile expertise and full mobile lifecycle offerings. Led by Nat Friedman, CEO and cofounder, Xamarin raised $54m in a series C round in August of 2014 and then expanded into adjacent areas of the mobile application lifecycle with Xamarin Test Cloud and Xamarin Insights. FinSMEs

Xamarin Acquires RoboVM

Xamarin Acquires RoboVM, Now the Only Cross-Platform Mobile      Development Company for the Top Two Enterprise Languages
Acquisition provides a path to mobile for 13 million C# and Java      enterprise developers
October 21, 2015 01:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time
SAN FRANCISCO & GOTHENBERG, Sweden--( BUSINESS WIRE )--Xamarin today announced that it has acquired RoboVM. Xamarin is the      leading enterprise mobility solution and the only mobile application      development platform that enables native iOS and Android development in      C#. RoboVM is the only company in the industry that enables native iOS      and Android development in Java. The acquisition brings together the top      two languages in enterprise development and a path to mobile for nearly      every enterprise developer. The two companies have taken nearly identical approaches to enabling      successful enterprise mobility. Xamarin and RoboVM apps are fully native      iOS and Android apps—native UI, native performance, and complete access      all of APIs for each device platform—built from a shared code base      across device platforms. Xamarin is the only company with this approach      for C# developers, and RoboVM is the only company with this approach for      Java developers. The acquisition means that Xamarin now controls the      cross-platform mobile development market for the most widely adopted      languages capable of native, client-to-server, cloud-to-mobile      development. “If Xamarin were to build a Java solution from scratch, it would look      like RoboVM because they took the same native-first approach in their      design,” says Nat Friedman, CEO and Xamarin cofounder. “If you love      Java, you are going to love RoboVM for iOS and Android development.”
IDC estimates that between five and seven million developers work in      Java, making it one of the largest developer ecosystems in the industry ( source ). The language for enterprise applications and data center operations, as      well as for Android app development, Java is used in a broad array of      devices beyond smartphones and tablets, including: wearables, cars,      drones, TVs, refrigerators, and many other IoT devices. While      enterprises have largely skilled internal development teams, they      struggle to fully staff the capabilities needed for iOS and Android      development; Forrester reports that 50% of organizations have fewer than five developers in-house, barely enough to field a single mobile team,      especially if app is built for both iOS and Android. ( source )
RoboVM allows enterprises to achieve broach reach and easily extend      native, Java-based Android apps to iOS—or to develop iOS apps from      scratch—all while leveraging their Java skills, resources, and code. “Our mission is to enable Java developers to create beautiful native      mobile apps quickly,” says Henric Müller, CEO at RoboVM. “Xamarin’s      market-leading position in enterprise mobility means that we will be      able to scale our reach and enable mobile success for millions of      developers.”
Xamarin takes its hyper-growth model to the Java market
Key to Xamarin’s success is the large, global C# developer community      that has transitioned to mobile development via the Xamarin Platform. Unique developer downloads have more than doubled in the last year, now      at over 1.2 million, and sales have grown at an even faster rate. Xamarin and RoboVM will operate independently to ensure each team stays      focused on their C# and Java user bases respectively. RoboVM will      leverage Xamarin’s growth models in developer marketing, sales, and      customer success to scale their business; and RoboVM customers will      benefit from Xamarin’s enterprise-grade mobile expertise and full mobile      lifecycle offerings. Following a $54 million series C funding round in August of 2014—the      largest single round of any mobile app platform company—Xamarin expanded      into adjacent areas of the mobile application lifecycle with Xamarin      Test Cloud and Xamarin      Insights . Xamarin Test Cloud ensures high quality apps by allowing customers to      test apps on over 2,000 devices and receive results within minutes,      versus the days or weeks-long feedback cycle of manual testing. The      service works for any native or hybrid app, not just apps built in C#      with the Xamarin Platform. Xamarin Insights provides sophisticated crash      and user reporting to further improve app quality and performance for      mobile C# developers. The company will soon bring this functionality to      Java developers targeting iOS and Android. This acquisition gives      Xamarin another built-in source of new customers for Xamarin Test Cloud      and Xamarin Insights, and new lifecycle products as the company expands      its product portfolio. According to Al Hilwa, Program Director for IDC's Application      Development Software research, “Using a cross-platform application      development approach has emerged as one of the most popular approaches      for building enterprise mobile apps, especially when coupled with      generation of native platform code. Xamarin is able to address the two      largest ecosystems for native mobile application development today with      its support for C# and Java.”
To learn more about Xamarin, view the company’s enterprise offerings. To learn more about the acquisition of RoboVM, visit: https://robovm.com/blog/ . About Xamarin
Xamarin is the new standard for enterprise mobile development and      quality. With over 1.2 million developer downloads and a global customer      base in 120 countries, Xamarin is used to accelerate the creation of      high-quality, high-performance, mission-critical consumer and enterprise      apps. Xamarin powers mobile development for more than 100 of the Fortune      500 companies and is a Visionary in Gartner’s 2015 Magic Quadrant report      for Mobile Application Development Platforms. For more information,      please visit: xamarin.com or follow us @xamarinhq. Contacts

Xamarin Acquires RoboVM, Now the Only Cross-Platform Mobile Development Company for the Top Two Enterprise Languages

Acquired

RoboVM enables native iOS and Android development in Java. The company allows enterprises to achieve broach reach and easily extend native, Java-based Android apps to iOS-or to develop iOS apps from scratch-all while leveraging their Java skills, resources, and code.

Date	10/21/2015
Round	Acquired
Amount
Investors	Xamarin
Valuation	$XXM
Revenue	0 FY undefined
Sources	2

First funding	10/21/2015
Last Funding	10/21/2015
Investor	Xamarin
Rounds	1 Acquired
Board Seats
Type	Corporation
Location	California

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