About

Our Story

Gradle Build Tool started as an open-source project in 2008 led by Hans Dockter (the founder and current CEO of Gradle Inc.) and Adam Murdoch. The success of the Gradle Build Tool project ultimately led to the development of Develocity (formerly Gradle Enterprise) which was launched in 2017.

Today, Gradle Build Tool is one of the most used build systems in the world, and Develocity is the leading developer toolchain observability platform. Develocity provides comprehensive observability, build and test acceleration technologies, and rapid troubleshooting features for Apache Maven, Bazel, sbt, npm, Python, and Gradle Build Tool. Top companies like Netflix, LinkedIn, ASML, Airbnb, Microsoft, Nasdaq, and SAP use Develocity to deliver critical software faster at scale.

2008
Gradle Build Tool 0.1 released by original Gradle OSS project founder Hans Dockter
With a strong passion for developer productivity and out of frustration with the available technology, Hans Dockter starts work on a new build system.

Adam Murdoch joins as co-founder of the OSS project
Hans and Adam had never met in person before joining. This was the start of our remote-first workforce that continues today.

2010
Gradle Inc. founded
Founders Hans Dockter and Adam Murdoch

First major open source projects migrate to Gradle
These include Hibernate and Spring Framework

Gradle receives the Springy Award
Award given for “most innovative open source project”

2011
Gradle makes the shortlist for the 2011 JAX Best Java Technology Award
Gradle was named a finalist based on community nominations and votes from a panel of Java experts.

2012
Gradle Build Tool 1.0 is released
Focuses on backwards compatibility

2013
Google selects Gradle as default build tool for Android
Google and Gradle continue to have a tight relationship today.

2014
Gradle closes seed funding round
$4.2M Round | Lead Investor: True Ventures

2015
Gradle Build Tool reaches 1M downloads per month milestone

Gradle designated "Cool Vendor" by Gartner for Gradle Build Tool

2016
Gradle closes series A funding round
$10.5M Round | Lead Investor: DCVC, Bain Capital Partners

2017
Gradle introduces Gradle Enterprise
Featuring Build Scan: A shareable record of a build that provides insights into what happened and why

Gradle Build Tool is counted among top 25 open source projects by TechCrunch
Based on public interest, user activity, job impact, and GitHub influence

2018
Gradle closes series B funding round
$13M round | Participating VCs: Harmony Partners, True Ventures, DCVC, Bain Capital

Gradle Enterprise introduces build performance dashboard
Provides many metrics and trend information that can be used to monitor, evaluate, and improve build performance

2019
Gradle Build Tool reaches 10M downloads per month milestone

Gradle Enterprise announces Maven support
Key capabilities include Build Cache and Build Scan support

2020
Gradle Enterprise unveils Test Distribution
This product extension dramatically reduces test time by assigning tests to remote agents and running them in parallel.

2021
Gradle launches DevProdEng Showdown!
Live event series featuring industry experts

Gradle Build Tool reaches 20 million downloads per month milestone
Gradle Build Tool downloads doubled in less than one year.

Gradle closes series C funding round
$27M round | Lead investor: Triangle Peak Partners

2022
Gradle Enterprise launches first performance acceleration solution powered by machine learning
Predictive Test Selection saves up to 70% of testing time by identifying, prioritizing, and running only tests that are likely to provide useful feedback.

Gradle CEO keynotes ApacheCon

Gradle hosts first annual DPE Summit

Gradle Build Tool reaches 30 million downloads per month

2023
Gradle acquires Scala acceleration technology provider Triplequote

Gradle Inc. Joins Kotlin Foundation as First New Member Since Founding by Google and JetBrains

Gradle Inc. announces Gradle Enterprise is now Develocity
Rebrand underscores the multi-build system support strength of the Develocity solution platform.

Develocity Expands Developer Productivity Solution Support to Google Bazel and sbt/Scala User Communities

The Apache Software Foundation standardizes on Develocity to improve developer productivity across its 320 active projects
Agreement includes Gradle Inc. being named an ASF Targeted Platinum Sponsor.

Gradle Inc. named 'InfoWorld Technology of the Year' and wins CODiE award for ‘Most Innovative Tech Company of 2023’
Hans Dockter was also named one of the 'Top 50 SaaS CEOs of 2023' by the Software Report.

2024
Gradle Inc. receives Iron Bank Certification
This paves the way for leveraging Develocity to accelerate the software build and test processes, improve troubleshooting, provide greater observability in efforts to secure the SDLC, and help the US deliver better software faster to create a global competitive advantage.

Thoughtworks technology radar includes Develocity for “trial”

Gradle Inc. partners with Github to improve software supply chain security

Gradle Inc. launches global event series on Developer Productivity Engineering (DPE)

Gradle Inc. launches DPE University

Develocity available on Google Cloud Marketplace

Gradle Inc. announces 3rd annual Developer Productivity Engineering Summit with Keynote from Google

Gradle Inc. wins InfoWorld 2024 Technology of the Year award for DevOps: Productivity