What is Retool?
Retool helps teams build and scale internal tools and business software platform products.
- Category
- Internal tools and business software platform
- Headquarters
- San Francisco, CA
- Founded
- 2017
- Employees
- 500+ estimated
- Total funding
- $141M disclosed equity
- Valuation
- $3.2B last disclosed valuation
What is Retool?
Retool is a internal tools and business software platform company founded in 2017 and headquartered in San Francisco, CA.
Retool builds internal tools and business software platform infrastructure for teams that need production software, AI, or data workflows rather than one-off prototypes. Revenue is not disclosed; Retool says tens of thousands of companies use the platform. Its public scale signal is Tens of thousands of companies, with DoorDash, Brex, Plaid, and Ramp appearing in public customer material.
The company sits in a fast-moving market where buyers care about reliability, security, integration depth, and procurement maturity. Low-code platform for internal applications, workflows, and AI apps. Its position is strongest when customers need a managed platform that shortens engineering time while still fitting into existing cloud, data, and developer workflows.
For sellers, Retool is best treated as a scaled technical buyer. Engineering and product leaders influence architecture, finance and operations shape budget, and security or procurement becomes more important as contract size grows.
Sources:Retool about pageRetool pricing
What does Retool offer?
Retool's product set centers on App builder, Retool Workflows, Retool Database.
- App builder· Core product
- Retool Workflows· Core product
- Retool Database· Core product
- Mobile apps· Expansion product
- External apps· Expansion product
- AI agents and AppGen· Expansion product
Sources:Retool about pageRetool pricing
How does Retool make money?
Retool makes money through usage, subscription, committed-capacity, and enterprise contracts depending on customer scale.
Retool prices by user type and plan. Public pricing shows Builder seats at free, $10/month, $50/month, or custom by tier; internal users at free, $5/month, $15/month, or custom; external users on higher plans with volume bands such as free for the first 50 and lower per-user prices at higher volumes.
Growth is driven by land-and-expand adoption: individual developers or small teams start with self-serve usage, then production workloads create larger commitments, security requirements, support needs, and procurement events. Enterprise customers typically pay for higher limits, private deployment patterns, governance, support, SLAs, and negotiated usage economics.
The unit economics depend on the underlying product category. Software-heavy products expand through seats and usage, while AI infrastructure and GPU-cloud businesses require disciplined capacity planning, reserved commitments, power and data-center execution, and high utilization of expensive compute assets.
Sources:Retool about pageRetool pricing
Who leads Retool?
Retool is led by David Hsu, with technical, product, and go-to-market ownership spread across the leadership team.
- David HsuFounder & CEOFounder since 2017Leads product and company direction.
- Retool engineering leadershipEngineering leadersScale-up phaseOwns app builder, workflows, database, and self-hosted infrastructure.
- Retool product leadershipProduct leadersScale-up phaseOwns AI agents, AppGen, mobile, and external apps.
- Retool go-to-market leadershipGTM leadersScale-up phaseRuns enterprise sales and customer expansion.
How do you contact Retool's leadership?
Use published company channels first. The personal addresses below are format-following examples using retool.com; they should be verified before outreach and are not presented as confirmed personal inboxes.
first@retool.com (format-following example, not a verified personal mailbox)How much funding has Retool raised?
Retool has $141M disclosed equity; its latest disclosed valuation/status is $3.2B last disclosed valuation.
Retool's disclosed financing history is concentrated in these major events: 2017-2018 Seed and early rounds; 2019 Series A / B expansion; Dec 2021 Series C - $45M at $3.2B valuation. The latest disclosed valuation or market status is $3.2B last disclosed valuation.
2017-2018: Seed and early rounds. Early investors back Retool as a faster way to build internal tools. 2019: Series A / B expansion. Growth capital supports adoption among startups and enterprises. Dec 2021: Series C - $45M at $3.2B valuation. TechCrunch reported the Series C confirmation and valuation as Retool scaled its enterprise business.
The funding signal matters because it defines buying capacity and operating pressure. Late-stage capital usually means new hiring, platform expansion, security upgrades, finance-process maturity, and larger procurement reviews; earlier-stage profiles require tighter ROI and founder-led evaluation.
How did Retool get here?
Retool's path runs from founding in 2017 through product expansion and its latest financing or public-market milestone.
- 2017Company foundedDavid Hsu starts Retool to make internal software faster to build.
- 2019Internal tools category growsRetool becomes a default option for operations and engineering teams.
- Dec 2021Series C valuationRetool confirms a $45M Series C and $3.2B valuation.
- 2022-2023Workflows and database expandThe platform broadens from app builder into automation and hosted data.
- 2024-2025AI apps and agentsRetool adds AppGen, AI primitives, and agent-building capabilities.
- 2026Enterprise software platformRetool positions as a full platform for internal, mobile, external, and AI apps.
Sources:Retool about pageRetool pricing
Who are Retool's competitors?
Retool competes with category specialists, open-source alternatives, and larger platform vendors.
- AppsmithOpen-source low-code platform for internal tools.
- SuperblocksEnterprise internal app and workflow platform with governance controls.
- UI BakeryLow-code internal tool builder with database and workflow integrations.
- BudibaseOpen-source internal tools platform for apps and workflows.
- InternalInternal tools platform focused on fast admin UIs and operations workflows.
Sources:Retool about pageRetool pricing
Retool — frequently asked questions
