Crowdsourced testing company uTest fleshes out expansion plans

Software testing company uTest uses the power of the crowds to test mobile apps. Today it’s launching a new product called uTest Express for Web that could expand its scope beyond mobile apps into web apps, websites and further still in the future.

In a nutshell, uTest’s idea is to outsource the time-consuming business that is software testing to testers around the world, effectively crowdsourcing the effort and thus providing early-stage start-ups with a chance to get professional testing cost-effectively.

As uTest began with mobile apps, company CMO Matt Johnston (pictured) says the company has received conclusive evidence that there is a sizable market for companies that need this kind of service. As a direct result of customer requests, uTest has expanded its product into website testing with uTest Express for Web.

The company has a community of 40,000 testers around the world, and it has provided its services for some major players like Google, Microsoft, and Groupon as well as small start-ups. (Microsoft benefited from using uTest to test its antivirus software Microsoft Security Essentials before its release.) The start-up scene is where uTest is focused, though: Johnston says the company’s competition is start-ups who have no testing strategy due to scant resources. uTest’s main competition is thus “crossed fingers”, as Johnston puts it. Even so, uTest wants to cover new types of testing as the company grows.

“We will round out the Express offering by expanding into desktop app testing, but that is a niche market. The more lucrative expansion will be moving Express into other areas, such as usability and security testing,” Johnston explains.

And business seems to be on the upswing. While uTest doesn’t disclose revenue figures, Johnston says growth has been forty-fold from two years ago, and four-fold from 2010 to 2011. The company is based in Southborough, Mass. and employs over 60 employees in Boston and San Francisco, with sales offices in London and Tel Aviv. The company raised $13 million in venture capital last fall and has had over $20 million in financing altogether since the end of 2007.