Espresso Logic received $1.6 million in seed funding today for its backend as a service to connect web and mobile applications to external databases including MySQL, Oracle Server and Microsoft SQL Server. Inventus Capital led the funding along with angel investors including Gokul Rajaram, lead product engineer at Square and one of the creators of Google AdSense.

The service uses reactive programming for IT to create business logic that developers can then convert to JSON and make available through an API. The programming model lets the computer manage dependencies that ordinarily a programmer would be required to do. Reactive programming is not a new concept but recently it has come into fashion as a way to quickly build front-end apps by companies like Facebook and Netflix. But on the backend, reactive programming is something that is still in its infancy.

CEO Paul Singh said in a phone interview today that the concept of reactive programming is analogous to a spreadsheet. For a spreadsheet sum, as an example, the user can make changes without having to rewrite the spreadsheet. The formula manages the data flow and propagates the changes that need to be made. A programmer recreating the process would have to write the code to do the sum and then also manage the dependencies.

With the new reactive programming model using Espresso, a database manager can create a data flow, which the developer then uses to build an API that connects to third-party apps.

An API management provider can manage the API once it is created and a mobile back-end as a service provider like Kinvey or Parse offers data in the cloud. Kinvey does also offer capabilities to manage data from third-parties but Singh said the Espresso service focuses on providing the business logic, the security and the connectors to a JSON.

Espresso Logic is seeking to close the gap between the database administrator and the developer. IT needs to move faster, and reactive programming may be a way to accomplish that.

Feature image via Coffee Circle on Flickr.