#43 - 🤯 Zapier MCP and n8n closed a €55M Series B!
MCP or API? Zapier chose both 👏
Hello everyone,
For visual developers, it's hard to understand why API swagger documentation alone isn't enough for AI agents. If you're looking for a sentence to summarize why MCPs (Managed Connection Protocols) are necessary for AI, you can simply understand that "APIs are not perfect at all, swagger docs are not perfect at all, and you can't connect an AI Agent to an API without human fixes." MCP shifts this human intervention to the Editor level, so if the Gmail API changes from V1 to V2, only Google or the MCP creator for Gmail will need to make changes - your AI Agent won't need to be updated.
So it means more work for API providers or the community, but less work for AI agent creators who want to use APIs without issues.
Cheers,
Benoît de Montecler
1️⃣ Zapier launched Zapier MCP gives your AI assistant direct access to over 7,000+ apps and 30,000+ actions without complex API integrations. Now your AI can perform real tasks like sending messages, managing data, scheduling events, and updating records—transforming it from a conversational tool to a functional extension of your applications. Since they rolled out Zapier MCP, usage has been near-doubling every day. 🤯
2️⃣ n8n has successfully closed a €55M Series B funding round, reflecting strong investor confidence and commitment to its growth trajectory. Led by Highland Europe, this funding will bolster n8n's strategy to integrate AI and foster collaboration between code and human efforts in workflow automation. Additionally, n8n has revamped its website to feature a more technology-focused design, incorporating a dark mode option to enhance user experience while signaling the start of a gradual overhaul of all its platforms.
3️⃣ Bubble's AI Vision was presented, explaining that Vibe Coding isn't ready for production deployment yet. Bubble aims to position itself as the premier production platform for AI-powered no-code development. No new product announcements were made.
4️⃣ WeWeb has added a Revert Button for users working with WeWeb AI! They also added a Skeleton Loader element, improving user experience with a smoother loading transition. Users can also now integrate a Select element directly into the Datagrid, enhancing data manipulation through new drag & drop functionalities. Furthermore, the icon element's color property has been updated to be responsive, allowing developers to customize icons based on device type for better user interface flexibility.
5️⃣ Retool Mobile has launched an improved Scanner component in private beta, which allows advanced barcode scanning capabilities with options for multiple symbologies. Users can select between Manual and Automatic scan modes and will receive visual confirmations to enhance the scanning experience. Additionally, Retool has introduced bulk editing features in the Inspector, streamlining the editing process by allowing simultaneous modifications across selected components.
6️⃣ Glide is testing a new public beta feature that allows users to share, reuse, and import AI Custom components across different Glide applications, significantly enhancing collaboration. This feature enables dynamic component creation through tailored prompts. Notably, Classic Apps will be fully deprecated on June 30th, meaning users must transition to New Glide Apps using the migration tool before the deadline to retain access to their applications.