Software testing solution provider SmartBear has bought an AI-powered no-code testing platform called Reflect in a strategic move to strengthen the company’s AI capabilities.
SmartBear CEO Frank Roe told QA Financial the testing platform for web applications allows developers and testers to write tests faster as text prompts, enabling greater automation.
He explained the Reflect acquisition will accelerate SmartBear’s AI strategy to meet diverse customer needs by intelligently powering the firm’s three integrated hubs “for API development, testing, and production readiness with insights that power great user experiences across the entire software development lifecycle. “
No-code testing
Prior to the acquisition, Reflect was owned by Battery Ventures, Craft Ventures, and Y Combinator. The companies declined to disclose any financial details.
Instead of building and maintaining complex Selenium tests, a range of financial services firms turned to Reflect in recent years to use it to run automated end-to-end tests without writing code.
“As companies increasingly look to the impact of GenAI, SmartBear is taking a unique and intentional approach to delivering value,” Roe continued.
“With Reflect, we gain immediate cutting-edge technology.”
SmartBear CEO Frank Roe
He stressed the platform “will enable us to powerfully enhance our hub strategy today with new intelligent capabilities and continue to modernize our solutions going forward.
“This acquisition anchors our strategy as we enter a new era of leveraging GenAI to transform how our customers build, test, and release great software,” Roe added.
By combining this technology with SmartBear’s own recent innovations in AI test automation, he argued “the potential is tremendous.”
User context
Discussing the acquisition with QA Financial, Jason English, director and principal analyst at Intellyx, said the transaction makes sense.
“We are witnessing the emergence of more sustainable fusions of AI-assisted test generation and automation that go far beyond simply putting a chat interface in front of a testing tool,” English explained.
“A natural language interface designed with declarative, intent-based testing in mind allows test and development teams to achieve higher test resiliency and regression test coverage, as the machine learning model will gain additional user context over time,” he observed.
The Reflect platform
In addition, Roe stressed SmartBear is working to enhance its solutions by leveraging AI in ways that create simplified, scalable testing for modern development teams.
“Reflect applies large language models to instantly turn natural language test step definitions, like those used in manual test cases, into automated scripts, boosting efficiency.”
Meanwhile, Todd McNeal, the co-founder of Reflect, explained he agreed to sell as SmartBear enables his company to speed up the development of his platform.
“This marks a major milestone in Reflect’s nearly five-year journey.”
Todd McNeal, Reflect’s co-founder (left)
“By joining forces with SmartBear, we will accelerate innovation and achieve so much more in our mission to make testing easier, faster, and more effective through intelligence,” McNeal said.
The acquisition caps an acquisitive period for SmartBear as this markets the company’s 10th acquisition in just over five years.
“With the integration of Reflect, SmartBear is well-positioned to extend its leadership through an AI-powered testing platform that intelligently meets the needs of modern development teams,” Roe stated.
SmartBear recently announced the integration of VisualTest, an AI-driven automated regression visual testing tool, with UI test automation tool, TestComplete.
