Some weeks, the grit is real. This DevNewsletter celebrates the developers and founders who stuck with their ideas through the quiet years, long before the hype caught up. From Replit’s early days as a freemium IDE to Better Auth’s journey from a bedroom in Ethiopia to 15,000 GitHub stars, these devtools remind us that great software takes time, patience, and belief.
🏆 Funding Wins
Better Auth Bags $5M Seed to Simplify Dev Authentication
Better Auth, created by Ethiopian self-taught programmer Bereket Engida, secured $5 million in seed funding to expand its dev-friendly authentication framework. Built entirely by Engida from his bedroom in Ethiopia, Better Auth offers an open-source, TypeScript-based library allowing developers to manage logins, roles, and permissions securely, without relying on third-party data storage. With 150,000 weekly downloads and 15,000 GitHub stars, Better Auth has rapidly become popular among startups, notably AI companies that need flexible, secure authentication. Engida plans to use the funds to build out a team and launch an enterprise version.
“People love the product…but what matters even more is what it represents — proof that a global developer tool can come out of Ethiopia.” – Engida
✒️ Congratulations Better Auth! Discover more about their incredible journey here.
LanceDB Banner (Source: LinkedIn)
LanceDB Lands $30M Series A to Revolutionize AI Data
LanceDB, the startup behind the fast-growing multimodal data format Lance, has raised $30 million in a Series A round led by Theory Ventures. Co-founders Chang She and Lei Xu developed LanceDB to simplify handling diverse data types including embeddings, images, and videos, all within one integrated platform called the Multimodal Lakehouse. Already powering major generative AI companies like Runway, Midjourney, and Character.ai, LanceDB enables faster, efficient scaling for massive AI workloads. The new funds will boost open-source community engagement, expand enterprise features, and scale infrastructure to handle the exploding multimodal data space.
🕸️Great work LanceDB! Explore the Multimodal Lakehouse here.
Zama Raises €49M Series B, Reaching Unicorn Status
French cryptography startup Zama raised €49 million in a Series B round led by Blockchange Ventures and Pantera Capital, reaching unicorn status as the first billion-dollar valuation in Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE). Founded by Dr. Pascal Paillier and Dr. Rand Hindi, Zama’s groundbreaking tech allows developers to build confidential blockchain applications effortlessly. Its open-source libraries are already used by over 5,000 developers globally. The fresh funding supports Zama’s mainnet launch and broader ecosystem adoption, promising to dramatically enhance data privacy across finance, AI, and cloud computing.
“Reaching a $1 billion valuation represents a significant increase that reflects the market’s confidence in our FHE technology and our team’s ability to deliver confidentiality to financial applications onchain.” – Hindi
🤖 Amazing achievement Zama! Learn more about their confidential blockchain tech.
🚀 3, 2, 1… Launches
Mintlify Banner (Source: LinkedIn)
Mintlify Launches AI Assistant for Documentation
Mintlify has launched its new AI Assistant, designed to turn documentation into an interactive, conversational experience. Announced by CEO Han Wang, the assistant uses Claude 4 and agentic retrieval to bring users directly to the right docs with high accuracy and clear citations. It deflects support queries by answering questions based on up-to-date product documentation, improving developer experience while reducing load on support teams. Built for the age of LLMs and GEO, the assistant gives developers control over how their documentation is indexed and surfaced.
🍃 Read more from the Mintlify team about what’s new here
Pythagora Debuts v2.0 for Production-Ready AI Apps
Pythagora (YC W24) just rolled out v2.0 of its all-in-one AI development platform, focused on building real, maintainable applications. Created by Zvonimir Sabljić and Leon Ostrez, the platform includes debugging tools, full-stack coordination, breakpoints, a knowledge base, and one-click deployment powered by AWS. Users can preview apps in-browser, with infrastructure built by Pythagora itself. Their key insight? AI apps shouldn’t be disposable demos. With logs, debugging, and real deployment features, Pythagora helps users build apps worth maintaining.
📐Watch their full video instruction here and explore what others are building with Pythagora here
FlashDocs API Launches for One-Call Slide Deck Automation
FlashDocs has launched on Product Hunt and it’s achieved #2 spot. FlashDocs is an API for auto-generating branded slide decks from Markdown or JSON. Co-founders Morten Bruun and Adam Khakhar built FlashDocs to handle the pain of messy deck creation. Now, one API call lets developers export Google Slides or PowerPoint presentations with charts, images, tables, brand themes, and more. It’s already powering 10,000 slide exports daily and fits perfectly into tools that generate summaries or reports. Early adopters include AI agents, GTM platforms, and internal reporting tools.
📊 Book time or start for free here and show your support on Product Hunt
🔦 DevTool of the Week: Replit
Replit Banner (Source: LinkedIn)
Few companies have embodied the shift to AI-first development as dramatically as Replit. Last week, CEO Amjad Masad revealed that the platform had skyrocketed from $10M to over $100M in ARR in just under six months. That 10x leap was a growth milestone and it marked the arrival of the “vibe coding” era where anyone, not just developers, can build full applications through natural language.
Replit Agent, launched in September 2024, was the breakthrough. It let users describe what they wanted in plain English, and the platform did the rest: frontend, backend, auth, hosting, even deployment. While competitors like Cursor and Copilot focused on boosting productivity, Replit went full-stack, enabling non-coders and pros alike to launch production-ready apps at speed.
Founded in 2016 by Amjad Masad, his wife Haya Odeh and brother Faris Masad, Replit spent years as a freemium collaborative IDE. The shift to Agent changed everything. Now, with 34M+ users, 2M apps created in 6 months, and major enterprises like Zillow on board, it’s one of the fastest-growing developer platforms in history.
This rise wasn’t overnight. Replit spent years building during times when AI-first coding wasn’t yet the trend, sticking through challenges that would have made others pivot or fold. Their success is a reminder that in startups, grit matters and timing is everything.
It’s an extremely exciting time for Replit and anyone working in the developer tooling space right now. Masad announced last week:
“We still have over half our funding in the bank. Our last round was in ‘23 at a $1.1B valuation, and we haven’t needed to raise since. We’re growing the team, and now’s a great time to join. The upside ahead is massive..”
Replit is building for the next billion creators. It’s a platform where anyone with an idea can bring it to life…and that’s why they are this week’s devtool of the week.
🎇 Explore Replit and try it for yourself. – They’re hiring too!
🥳 What’s On in July
Here’s a roundup of standout devtools conferences and courses happening in July, from hands-on API workshops to global developer summits.
apidays Munich 🗓 July 2–3 📍 Smartvillage Bogenhausen, Munich, Germany
AI is only as strong as the APIs powering it. apidays Munich explores how to build AI-ready APIs, secure your stack, and use API monitoring to optimise performance. Join developers, architects, and business leaders for two packed days of best practices and deep dives. Book your ticket
The Barcelona Developers Conference 2025 🗓 July 8–10 📍 La Farga, Hospitalet, Barcelona
One of Europe’s most vibrant tech gatherings, with talks and workshops on everything from Rust and TypeScript to Kubernetes and DevOps. Expect practical insights, passionate speakers, and a welcoming crowd of frontend and backend devs. Book your ticket
RailsConf 2025 🗓 July 8–10 📍 Philadelphia, PA
The final edition of RailsConf will celebrate nearly 20 years of Ruby on Rails. Join the global Ruby community one last time for talks, collaboration, and reflections on the past and future of the framework. Book your ticket
WeAreDevelopers World Congress 🗓 July 9–11 📍 Berlin, Germany
A massive, multi-track event exploring every stage of AI-powered software and product development. Expect world-class keynotes, networking, and thousands of tech professionals in one place. Book your ticket
UberConf 🗓 July 15–18 📍 Denver, CO
A deep technical conference for JVM specialists, with 150+ in-depth sessions across Java, architecture, generative AI, leadership, DevOps, and more. Includes 90-minute workshops designed for hands-on learning. Book your ticket
Developer Summit @ Esri UC 🗓 July 16 📍 San Diego Convention Centre
Part of the world’s largest GIS conference, this one-day developer summit focuses on ArcGIS skills, collaboration, and real-world app building. You’ll need to register for Esri UC to attend. Register here
DevRelCon NYC 🗓 July 17–18 📍 Industry City, Brooklyn, NYC
DevRelCon and more brings together the global community of Developer Relations, DX, and Technical Community Management professionals. Expect high-impact talks, workshops, and real conversations about what’s working in DevRel today. Book your ticket
The Principal Dev Masterclass 🗓 July 17–18 📍 Online (US Eastern Time)
This two-day virtual course from Eduards Sizovs is for experienced engineers stepping into tech leadership roles. Learn how to balance technical work with people leadership, drive team performance, and grow your influence as a Principal Dev. Book your spot for $1099
Thanks for reading. This week reminded us that behind every great devtool is a founder or team who kept going when no one was watching. Whether you’re building with AI, scaling infrastructure, or just getting started, the developer community is full of people shipping quietly, iterating thoughtfully, and putting out software that speaks for itself.
If you’ve spotted something new, ambitious, or worth celebrating, send it our way.
Louise Ogilvy (Recruitment Director) – UK/USA
Becca Combe MIRP CertRP (Lead Recruiter) – USA
Ben Chipchase (Lead Recruiter) – UK
Natalie Harper (Administrator)
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