AppGyver

Market position

Described as a pioneer in no-code development platforms and, in vendor materials, as the world's first professional no-code platform. Within SAP it broadened the company's no-code capabilities alongside the low-code offering provided by SAP partner Mendix, and became part of the SAP Business Technology Platform and the RISE with SAP package. Third-party reviewers compare it with no-code app builders such as Adalo and Glide.

Positioned as a professional-grade no-code platform spanning multiple form factors including mobile, desktop, browser and TV, with pixel-level design freedom, native performance and device access, hundreds of logic functions, a theme engine and a large component library. In its early prototyping phase, the product differentiated on speed and ease relative to DIY app builders and prototyping services such as Justinmind, and on hardware-accelerated animations and native navigation UI. Post-acquisition, deep integration with the SAP ecosystem is its defining characteristic; reviewers describe this SAP-centric approach as a limitation relative to platforms with broad third-party integration marketplaces.

Technology

Visual development environment combining a drag-and-drop UI canvas with a logic canvas for composing app behaviour, supporting animations, custom fonts, adaptive design across screen sizes, sensors, file operations, data functions, permissions and user input handling. It offers over 500 components that users can compose and share, a theme engine, native performance with access to device capabilities, REST API connectivity and marketplace integrations, plus SAP-specific connectivity to ERP systems and the SAP Cloud API. Under SAP Build the platform adds cloud functions for backend creation.

Go-to-market

Self-service sign-up with a free tier and short in-product tutorial videos for onboarding, supported by documentation, a community forum and a showcase of user-built apps. Early adopters included design and development agencies and startups using the tool to demonstrate concepts to investors and media. Enterprise adoption now runs through SAP, with customers directed to SAP Build Apps and SAP sales for advanced capabilities.

Businesses and development teams building internal business applications, particularly organizations already in the SAP ecosystem; also companies and developers distributing business-to-business and business-to-employee apps. The earlier prototyping product targeted designers, product managers, agencies and startups.

Geography

Headquartered in San Francisco in its early years; the acquired entity is AppGyver Oy, and the acquirer SAP is a German enterprise software company. Investor Karma Ventures is a member of the Estonian private equity and venture capital association.

History

The company was started around 2010-2011 by Marko Lehtimaki (CEO) and Henri Vahakainu, with a third founder, Jeff Alonzo, also named in one source. The prototyping product was initially an internal tool for the founders' earlier business, which built mobile applications for clients, and entered private beta in December 2012 before its public introduction in March 2013. By early 2013 the San Francisco-based company had seven employees and roughly $600,000 raised from angels, friends, family and the founders, and was raising a seed round to expand beyond prototyping. The platform evolved into a professional no-code app builder, and in February 2021 SAP acquired AppGyver Oy, an exit for investor Karma Ventures; the product was subsequently rebranded SAP Build.

Risks & controversies

An independent competitor review characterizes AppGyver as a declining platform with minimal product updates since the SAP acquisition and an uncertain future, and flags functional gaps including the absence of templates and autosave and limited access to non-SAP third-party integrations such as Zapier and Google Sheets. The same source notes the review is published by a competing vendor. Founding-year and founder details differ between sources.