Contrary’s core mission is to support exceptional people relentlessly. Every now and then, we find companies that align with that mission very closely as well. And when we do, investing in them is a no-brainer. Replit is one of those companies.
While more than 5 billion have access to the internet, there are only about 27 million software developers—less than half a percent of the global population. As software becomes more pervasive in every aspect of people’s lives, there is a massive gap between the people who can benefit from technology, and the people who can build it.
Replit exists to “bring the next billion software creators online.” I’ve had the chance to know Amjad for several years now, and when I joined Contrary investing in Replit was my first priority. When we first invested in Replit, most people saw the product as a toy. Something to hack together side-projects on the weekends. But things have really picked up.
Just in the last year, Replit has launched Ghostwriter, an AI-enabled code assistant, a 100 Days of Code on-ramp for new developers, a mobile app, bounties for finding other programmers to help you build aspects of your product, and Replit Deployments to host your applications.
We also had the chance to cover Replit for Contrary Research. You can learn more about the company in our full memo here.
Replit has quickly built an end-to-end developer environment with all the tools you need to take an idea from development to deployment. Contrary has always been about identifying exceptional people, and now Replit has come along giving those people all the tools they could need to build their ideas.
Today, Replit has announced a $97 million round backed by Contrary, a16z, Khosla, and many more. And based on the pace the Replit team is setting, we’re just getting started!
Disclosure: Nothing presented within this article is intended to constitute legal, business, investment or tax advice, and under no circumstances should any information provided herein be used or considered as an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy an interest in any investment fund managed by Contrary LLC (“Contrary”) nor does such information constitute an offer to provide investment advisory services. Information provided reflects Contrary’s views as of a time, whereby such views are subject to change at any point and Contrary shall not be obligated to provide notice of any change. Companies mentioned in this article may be a representative sample of portfolio companies in which Contrary has invested in which the author believes such companies fit the objective criteria stated in commentary, which do not reflect all investments made by Contrary. No assumptions should be made that investments listed above were or will be profitable. Due to various risks and uncertainties, actual events, results or the actual experience may differ materially from those reflected or contemplated in these statements. Nothing contained in this article may be relied upon as a guarantee or assurance as to the future success of any particular company. Past performance is not indicative of future results. A list of investments made by funds managed by Contrary (excluding investments for which the issuer has not provided permission for Contrary to disclose publicly as well as unannounced investments in publicly traded digital assets) is available at www.contrary.com/investments.
Certain information contained in here has been obtained from third-party sources, including from portfolio companies of funds managed by Contrary. While taken from sources believed to be reliable, Contrary has not independently verified such information and makes no representations about the enduring accuracy of the information or its appropriateness for a given situation. Charts and graphs provided within are for informational purposes solely and should not be relied upon when making any investment decision. Please see www.contrary.com/legal for additional important information.