With what feels like everyone walking about with smartphones and tablets in their pockets, the app development industry has been booming. Having a great idea and the ability to turn it into a smartphone app can be a lucrative endeavor. The only issue is, you need to have that ability if you want to make money. It may feel as if it would be quite an undertaking to learn the skills for app development, but it may not be as hard as one may imagine.

Started in 2011, Appgyver provides anyone with a good idea for an app the tools needed to create the perfect app. Appgyver’s Prototyper builds prototypes of apps in minutes using images. The “prototypes,” according to Appgyver, are actually more than prototypes and can be considered fully functioning apps, able to be placed on app stores. Appgyver’s biggest undertaking so far has been their HTML5 development tool, Steroid.js. Steroid allows developers to create apps easily using HTML5, and even allows plugins from popular development tool PhoneGap. While it may not be meant for those with no technological savvy, developers will have to learn HTML5 to use it, the tool has been quite a success for those wishing to jump into the app market.

Since the release of Steroid in August of 2013, HTML5 developed apps have been blasting off. With the release of Steroid, Appgyver’s registered developers have jumped to about 25,000, building about 10,000 apps using Steroid. Ten percent of those developed apps have been released successfully, either available for consumers on app stores, or in use internally by different organizations.

Steroid has been quite a bit of success for Appgyver, so much so that the CEO of the company, Marko Lehtimaki, believes that if their growth continues on the trajectory it has been on there should be 100,000 developers registered by the end of 2014. With the success of their Steroid platform, Appgyver has been looking to expand, hiring more employees and working on developing the platform further.

To help them do this, Appgyver has started a vital funding round with the aid of two venture capital companies. The first of these companies is Initial Capital, a company with a reputation for investing in games and apps. Some of the investments that Initial Capital has made include Supersolid, SpaceApe Games, and Better Doctor. Working with Appgyver, Initial Capital has raised $2.5 for the company. The second venture capitalist group is Open Ocean Capital, founded by the developers of MySQL. Companies under Open Ocean’s belt include Rapidminer, Nosto, and Nordic Telecom.

With the investments, it can be hoped that Appgyver’s success will continue as they develop Steroid further, and make steps with other projects. One such project is Composer, similar to Prototyper yet with a visual interface that will make development of app prototypes even simpler.