DreamFactory Software grabs $4M so you can hook up your old database to your shiny, new mobile app

It can be a challenge to access legacy databases from the spiffy new enterprise mobile app your company just built.

Nine-year-old DreamFactory Software is well aware of the problem, and has built open software that generates a Rest API to plug into any backend database. The company also recently raised $4 million to help it release the enterprise version of its software next year.

DreamFactory got its start on the desktop, but three or four years ago, it shifted its focus towards mobile when it realized that enterprise developers would need tools to make databases accessible from mobile apps. Its software supports MySQL, SQL Server, Oracle, PostgreSQL, and most NoSQL databases, including MongoDB, among others.

Currently, more than 1,000 new applications add DreamFactory’s software each week, company president Bill Appleton told VentureBeat. Some of the company’s customers, Appleton said, include a very large chip manufacturer (which uses the software to access inventory from mobile devices), an insurance company (which uses it to help its agents access claims from mobile apps), as well as developers in the “Internet of things” space.

Since its software is open source, DreamFactory gets its revenue for selling support services. It also supports its own legacy Salesforce applications, which date from the company’s early days.

But the company’s biggest focus right now, and reason for raising new funding, is the enterprise version of its software. It plans to release that in the second quarter of 2015, although Appleton declined to share more details about the product. The new funding is going toward building out its engineering, product, and sales teams in preparation for the release.

The company raised this latest round from existing investor New Enterprise Associates (NEA).

DreamFactory Software was founded in 2005 by Bill Appleton and Eric Rubin, and is based in Campbell, California and Atlanta, Georgia. The company previously raised $9.3 million in funding.