Xamarin is a technology company.
Xamarin has raised $83.0M across 3 funding rounds.
Key people at Xamarin.
Xamarin was founded by Nat Friedman (CEO and Cofounder).
Xamarin has raised $83.0M in total across 3 funding rounds.
Key people at Xamarin.
Xamarin is a cross-platform mobile app development framework that enables developers to build native apps for Android, iOS, and Windows using C# and .NET, sharing up to 90% of code across platforms.[1][2] It solves the problem of fragmented mobile development by allowing a single codebase with native APIs and UI controls, including Xamarin.Forms for shared user interfaces, serving over 1.4 million developers in the Microsoft ecosystem.[1][2] Originally a standalone company founded in 2011, Xamarin was acquired by Microsoft in 2016, becoming open-source and integrated into Visual Studio, which boosted accessibility and growth while reducing development time and costs.[1][2]
As part of Microsoft, Xamarin powered enterprise apps but faced evolution with Microsoft's .NET MAUI announcement, prompting migrations from Xamarin.Forms by late 2021, with support extended briefly afterward.[2]
Xamarin was founded on May 16, 2011, by Nat Friedman and Miguel de Icaza, building on Mono—an open-source .NET implementation led by de Icaza since 2001—to create a commercial cross-platform mobile tool.[1][2] The idea emerged to simplify mobile app development using C#, targeting developers tired of platform-specific coding for iOS and Android.[1][4]
Early traction included Xamarin 2.0's 2013 release, serving 12,000 paying customers with a 40-developer team.[5] Xamarin.Forms launched that year for shared UIs.[1] Pivotal moments were Microsoft's 2016 acquisition, making it free and open-source under MIT license, and 2017 Visual Studio integration.[1][2] By 2018, Xamarin.Forms 3.0 added features like CSS styling; it remained active into 2020 within Visual Studio.[1]
Xamarin rode the 2010s explosion of mobile apps and cross-platform needs, as developers sought efficiency amid iOS/Android fragmentation.[1][2] Timing was ideal post-Mono, aligning with C#/.NET's enterprise strength and Microsoft's mobile push.[2][4]
Market forces favoring it included rising app complexity and cost pressures, where code reuse slashed expenses.[1] It influenced the ecosystem by popularizing shared-code models in the Microsoft stack, paving for .NET MAUI as successor amid hybrid/native debates—shifting focus from Xamarin to unified platforms while sustaining .NET mobile dev.[2] Xamarin boosted open-source mobile tools, inspiring competitors and empowering non-native specialists.[1][2]
Post-MAUI transition (migration targeted November 2021, with 12-month support), Xamarin evolves as a legacy bridge in Microsoft's unified .NET ecosystem, likely maintained for existing apps but de-emphasized for new builds.[2] Trends like AI-integrated dev tools, edge computing, and multi-platform (including desktop/web) will shape it via MAUI extensions.
Its influence grows indirectly through Microsoft's .NET dominance, enabling faster enterprise mobile innovation—cementing Xamarin as a foundational force in cross-platform history, much like its founding goal to democratize C# mobile dev.[1][2]
Xamarin was founded by Nat Friedman (CEO and Cofounder).
Xamarin has raised $83.0M in total across 3 funding rounds.
Xamarin's investors include Alumni Ventures, AME Cloud Ventures, Antler, Balderton Capital, Citi Ventures, Craft Ventures, CRV, DST Global, Floodgate, Footprint Coalition, Foundation Capital, Fyrefly VC.
Xamarin has raised $83.0M across 3 funding rounds. Most recently, it raised $54.0M Series C in August 2014.