InstaWP has received an undisclosed amount of seed funding from Automattic. The service launched in July 2021 as a quick way to set up testing or disposable WordPress sites and users frequently commented on remarkable speed of the tool, which spins up a site in less than a second.
Founder Vikas Singhal said the investment gives Automattic a percentage of future equity under a SAFE (simple agreement for future equity) arrangement. In order to receive the investment, Singhal was required to register InstaWP Inc. as an independent US-based organization.
“InstaWP has a vision of making it easy to get started with WordPress,” Singhal said.
“Initally I thought InstaWP was just a disposable WP tool but fast forward eight months, it’s much more than that. It’s a workflow tool now, which makes working with WP 10x easier.”
InstaWP provided an Agency plan for LearnWP to use during Social Learning Spaces, Calls for Testing, and similar uses. The fact that it’s being used in WordPress education, where some users are brand new to the platform, speaks to how user-friendly it is to fire up a new WordPress testing site.
“Lots of plugin and theme authors use it for showcasing their product sandboxes,” Singhal said. “Agencies are using it to build and deliver websites for their clients. Many developers are using it for end to end testing as well.”
Singhal reports more than 23,000 sites have been created with InstaWP. The service currently has 1,600 free users and 50+ paid users. It offers paid plans from $9/month to $59/month and custom pricing for enterprise customers.
Singhal said the seed funding “should last for about next 18-24 months,” as InstaWP has ramped up hiring and marketing. He anticipates the company will be profitable by the end of the year and is open to more investors.
InstaWP is working on developing native integrations for hosting providers, which would allow users to connect their accounts, see a list of existing sites or create new ones, and select a production site to “push” to from InstaWP. The company is currently working with Runcloud and GoDaddy.
“We have come a long from being a disposable WP tool,” Singhal said. “InstaWP will become a great gateway to WordPress, covering all the use cases such as build, dev, test, showcase, and educate. We will be connecting hosting providers, product vendors and agencies/freelancers alike in a single platform.
“We want to become the AWS for the WordPress world, providing an easy way for people to build sites without thinking about the underlying platform.”