CodeRabbit open to acquisitions with fresh funding

CodeRabbit has already started looking at dealmaking as the code review space takes off thanks to AI, CEO Harjot Gill tells Axios Pro.

Driving the news: The San Francisco-based code review startup raised a $143 million Series C at a $1.5 billion post-money valuation led by Atomico and Smash Capital after growing revenue 5x.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Axios Pro: What do you attribute to the growth in code review?

• Gill: "Code reviews have become like a center of gravity of the [software development life cycle].
• We are seeing 3x to 5x more code being generated by developers, and that is pulling us in as a second-order effect. It is very similar to 10 years back, when Datadog had the same situation as the cloud was taking off and observability had become a bottleneck."

There's been dealmaking in the space. Will you be looking for opportunities with the new cash?

• "There are a few opportunities we've been tracking, and some of the proceeds might go into M&A. Nothing's definitive yet, but that's a real possibility.
• Adjacent spaces will be something of definite interest given how much the [software development life cycle] is reordering...We see bottlenecks emerging in [continuous integration and deployment], bottlenecks emerging in collaboration.
• So there's a lot more opportunity and interesting startups around us, which may not be successful standalone, but they could be very successful as part of CodeRabbit."

On the other hand, have you been approached by suitors?

• "On and off. If we had got acquired, it would have happened long back. An exit does not excite us.
• We are feeling more and more confident that this is going to be a massive, massive opportunity in the market. Hopefully, we can be the next Atlassian or the next Datadog, if not bigger."

You seem to raise every year, so is another one likely in 12 months?

• "If the historical fundraise is a precedent, then very likely we'll be raising in 12 months."