Glide, a no-code service that lets businesses create apps based on Google Sheets, Excel, or Airtable, raises a $20M Series A led by Benchmark
Context & Ripple Effects
Glide's $20M Series A lands almost exactly two years after Google bought AppSheet for roughly the amount of capital that startup had ever raised (~$19M) — proof that no-code app builders layered on spreadsheets have a ready acquirer in the platform that owns the underlying data source. AppSheet's own arc, from a $15M Series A with nearly 6,000 enterprise customers to a Google Cloud migration, is the template Glide is now following.
The competitive frame is set by Airtable's $185M Series D at a $2.58B valuation, which came bundled with Airtable Apps, its own JavaScript-based no-code development tool. The market now splits between databases adding app layers (Airtable) and app builders treating spreadsheets and databases alike as interchangeable backends (Glide).
First-order effects
- Benchmark's lead gives Glide more primary capital than AppSheet had accumulated across its entire life before Google acquired it, extending its runway to compete for the same business-app buyers.
- Businesses running operations on Google Sheets, Excel, or Airtable get a funded independent option for turning those tables into apps, rather than waiting for each platform to ship its own builder.
Second-order effects
- Airtable, which just launched its own no-code tooling, now hosts a rival whose product treats Airtable as one backend among several — pressuring it to deepen lock-in so customers build natively instead of through Glide.
- Google, having bought AppSheet to bring this category onto Google Cloud, faces a re-created independent competitor built directly on Google Sheets — either a distribution partner or a repeat-acquisition candidate.
Third-order effects
- If the AppSheet-to-Google pattern holds, the structural endgame is hyperscalers owning the app-builder layer atop their own productivity suites, squeezing independents toward niche use cases or acquisition.
- Spreadsheets and low-code databases are consolidating as default application backends, shifting value from where business data lives to who controls the interface that turns it into software.
The trend: No-code platforms are converting spreadsheets into application backends, with hyperscaler acquisitions (AppSheet by Google) setting the consolidation pace that new rounds like Glide's race against.