YC-backed Pixate nets $3.8M from Accel to make native app development easier

Mobile app development software maker Pixate has raised $3.8 million in funding to help companies and individuals create fresh native apps without much coding or hassle.

Palo Alto, Calif.-based Pixate’s free flagship “Pixate Engine for iOS” claims it “drastically” reduces the amount of code needed to build a native app for iOS. Pixate Engine offers native CSS and graphics engines and lets devs do things like change design elements in an app without having to resubmit the app to the app store.

[Editor’s note: This sort of technology is part of what we’re debating at our MobileBeat event next week, where we talk about what is needed to build a winning mobile experience. Buy tickets here!]

Pixate was a member of Y Combinator’s summer 2012 class and raised some funding through a Kickstarter campaign in August 2012. The company then launched to the public this past January.

While the basic Pixate Engine is free, it also offers “premium” paid features. Since launch, Pixate claims to have attracted “hundreds” of paid customers that have integrated the Pixate Engine to help build their interfaces.

“The best mobile companies will be native first,” Pixate CEO Paul Colton said in a statement. “Rather than having an app be a ‘black box,’ Pixate enables the decoupling of styling and design from the application’s core logic; this is critical for those that want to iterate their way towards the optimal user experience, engagement — and ultimately, conversion.”

We’ll be looking at the best of app dev tools at our big MobileBeat event in San Francisco next week. Buy your ticket now!

The new funding was led by hotshot VC firm Accel Partners.

“Today’s native application development experience is far removed from the web world, but Pixate changes this with a platform that allows developers to build and iterate on UI faster and more efficiently than ever before,” Accel partner Andrew Braccia said in a statement.

On top of the funding, Pixate has launched “Pixate Labs,” which will give developers early access to other products Pixate is working on.

Check out the video below for more on Pixate.