How CodeMate Aspires To Become The Grammarly Of Coding

The meteoric rise of GenAI applications has been met with both excitement and scepticism. While, initially, there were fears among many, especially IT professionals, that the emerging tech would replace them in jobs, others were reluctant to embrace it fully due to accuracy-related concerns.

However, it is imperative to mention that this technology has today become a powerful ally in boosting productivity and efficiency. Even IT employees, the most vulnerable of the lot, have come to realise that AI tools not only streamline repetitive tasks but also enhance the quality and speed of their work. Many are leveraging GenAI applications to enhance their coding skills and fix bugs on the go.

Enabling this further is Noida-based CodeMate, which assists developers in writing error-free codes. Founded in 2022 by Ayush Singhal, the startup found the purpose of its inception in the fact that the developer community needed a Grammarly-like application that could assist in writing flawless codes.

Today, CodeMate aids developers in shipping quality code faster by assisting them in writing, fixing, and maintaining their codebase, while also providing personalised and context-aware answers to questions related to their codebase.

In its early days, CodeMate, which started as a project during college hackathons, would offer solutions like text-to-code conversion, documentation, and code translation.

Later, in early 2023, the startup was subjected to a soft pivot when Singhal realised that the primary challenge within the software development ecosystem was fixing errors.

Recognising that the then-existing tools lacked the capability to provide context awareness across the entire codebase, Singhal decided to focus on the very blazing problem at hand — the inability to modify codebases and address errors.

This proved to be a turning point and Singhal’s focus shifted solely to solving this problem. Since then, the startup’s tech stack has empowered developers and helped them resolve errors efficiently within their codebases.

What’s In The CodeMate Tech Stack?

Currently, CodeMate offers developers a comprehensive suite of tools designed to streamline every aspect of the coding process. With its Debug Code feature, developers can analyse their code across multiple test cases, receiving detailed fixes and error descriptions to achieve the desired output efficiently.

Additionally, CodeMate simplifies code maintenance through its Refactor Code functionality, eliminating redundant and error-prone sections to ensure production-ready code.

It also helps perform CRUD (create, read, update, and delete) operations, generate automated documentation, and integrate with Git repositories, all within a developer’s existing coding environment.

One of CodeMate’s key features is the VS Code Extension, which seamlessly integrates with codebases and leverages deep organisational knowledge, transforming the coding experience.

By providing real-time code review and comprehensive error fixing, CodeMate helps in automating tedious manual processes, streamlining debugging and code review in enterprise environments.

Over the past four to five months, CodeMate has started generating revenue through its subscription-based model. Individual subscriptions start at $30 per month, and for teams seeking enhanced collaboration and productivity, its standard team subscription is priced at $37 a month. It has onboarded more than 1K paying users so far.

From Serving Developers To Empowering Enterprises

While CodeMate initially focussed on developers, it has now broadened its reach to take small and medium enterprises under its ambit. Currently, it is building a few proprietary models for enterprises and solutions to fine-tune LLMs. It claims to have onboarded 25 enterprise customers in the last few months.

“After September 2023, as we began to attract interest from enterprises, we realised they are looking for complete end-to-end control over their programming environments. Consequently, we understood the necessity of moving away from third-party models. To address this, we increased the focus on the curation of our datasets, a process that had already started prior to this,” Singhal said.

Since its inception, CodeMate has curated datasets and started fine-tuning its models based on this data. These refined models are enhanced versions of some of the best-performing models such as Meta’s Llama or Mistral, achieved through mergers and its own fine-tuning techniques.

“Our goal is to release smaller models optimised for running on machines without GPU support, ensuring compatibility with CPUs. Moving forward, we aim to release simpler models that do not require high computing resources, enabling easy execution on users’ machines. We have already begun releasing a couple of proprietary models, with more to come,” Singhal said.

He added that CodeMate aims to enter the education market in FY25. Additionally, the startup aims to cater to a more diverse audience by incorporating vernacular language support into CodeMate. This enhancement will enable users to interact with the platform in their native language, further enhancing the platform’s accessibility and usability.

What’s Next For CodeMate?

While there are numerous generic tools for testing and addressing security vulnerabilities in the larger developer assistance space, there are only a few ventures that offer the combined functionality of code generation and modification.

Locking horns with rivals Copilot and Podium, CodeMate aims to broaden its scope beyond mere code generation or modification, providing a comprehensive solution for developers’ needs.

The startup aims to serve developers and development teams across industries, where technology is integral to their product or service offerings. By providing innovative solutions that streamline coding processes, CodeMate seeks to empower developers to overcome complex coding tasks, improve scalability, and adapt to the transformative shifts in their roles within the software development landscape.

Currently, CodeMate has strategically positioning itself within the burgeoning AI tools space, which is projected to grow at a CAGR of 24% from $4.3 Bn in 2023 to $12.6 Bn by 2028. Going ahead, it will be interesting to see the key role CodeMate will play in driving increased efficiency and productivity among software developers.

[Edited by Shishir Parasher]