Microsoft's GitHub acquires Pull Panda for code-review collaboration

Pull Reminders, Pull Analytics, and Pull Assigner now available free in the GitHub Marketplace

Microsoft-owned GitHub has acquired Pull Panda, a start-up behind code review tools for GitHub developers.

As a result, Pull Panda ' s three products - Pull Reminders, Pull Analytics, and Pull Assigner - have been made available for free as one application in the GitHub Marketplace. In future, GitHub plans to integrate Pull Panda ' s suite of code review tools into its platform.

Better code reviews mean better code for software teams of all sizes, whether you work in open source or on a Fortune 500 team

Financial details of the deal were not revealed by any of the two companies.

According to GitHub, the purpose of the purchase is to "help teams create more efficient and effective code review workflows on GitHub".

"Better code reviews mean better code for software teams of all sizes, whether you work in open source or on a Fortune 500 team," GitHub wrote in a blog post.

"However, fast-moving teams can run into delays as pull requests pile up and fall through the cracks. Teams need a better way to manage reviews, reduce turnaround times, and ship code faster."

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Pull Panda, based in Boulder, Colorado, was founded by Abi Noda in 2018. Pull Panda ' s code review tools enable teams to collaborate on code and gain better insights into their processes.

Pull Reminders tool enables notifies developers when a collaborator needs their review.

Pull Analytics provides real-time statistics on top contributors, wait times, and several other attributes of a team ' s process. This tool provides team leaders insight into how speedily reviews are completed, along with other related information.

Pull Assigner tool helps to automatically distribute code across teams for review so that no developers find themselves overloaded.

According to Pull Panda, more than 1,000 companies are currently using its products, most notable users being Pivotal Software, Instacart, and WeWork.

In a blog post, Abi Noda said that he expects the new deal to enable Pull Panda ' s products to be offered to "millions more developers around the world". Noda added that he will join GitHub to continue to develop Pull Panda ' s features as part of the core product.

GitHub was purchased by Microsoft last year for $7.5 billion - one of Microsoft ' s largest acquisitions to date.

Pull Panda is the second acquisition made by GitHub since being purchased by Microsoft. Earlier, it bought Dependabot Inc., whose namesake app notified developers about flaws hiding in their software.

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