DEMO: ApSynth aims to democratize Web app development

ApSynth is one of 53 companies chosen by VentureBeat to launch at the DEMO Spring 2011 event taking place this week in Palm Desert, Calif. After our selection, the companies pay a fee to present. Our coverage of them remains objective.

Mobile apps are a hot topic at the moment, but ApSynth believes there’s still plenty of opportunity available in Web apps meant for desktop Web browsers.

Today, the company is launching a Web-app editor that lets anyone create their own apps, and it also offers multiple ways for users to distribute and monetize their apps. Users can submit their apps to the ApSynth Marketplace to make money from their creation, or they can just offer up the apps for free. The apps can be embedded on websites, social networks and even be used as standalone desktop applications.

Founders Guillaume Gruet and Jeff Gruet created the company as a response to the popularity of mobile and social media apps. They wanted to create an easy way for users to bring apps to the wider web, instead of being stuck in closed mobile or social media environments. The former Gruet worked in sales for a software publisher and marketing for Vivendi Universal, while the latter came from Airbus as an IT project manager.

ApSynth faces steep from the likes of Conduit, a company that has found great success with its massive web app platform, and Heroku. There’s definitely room for competition in the web app arena though, and by focusing on easy app development, ApSynth may be able to carve out a place for itself.

The Paris, France-based company was founded in 2008 and is self-funded to the tune of 100,000 euros.