Remember those robed “prophets” wandering about WWDC declaring that the “end of native” was coming? Turns out they were from a company called Sencha and were foreshadowing the launch of Sencha Touch, a slick, HTML-5 based mobile app framework. Today the company is announcing some more exciting news: it has closed a $14 million Series A funding round led by Sequoia Capital, with participation from Radar Partners. Joining the Sencha board are Jim Goetz (Sequoia) and Stratton Sclavos (Radar).

Since it was founded in 2007 under the name Ext JS, the company has developed open-source JavaScript products that have been implemented by the likes of Best Buy, Juniper Networks, and Time Warner Cable. The company says that it plans to use the new money to expand on its HTML5-based products like Sencha Touch, which is aimed toward developing sophisticated web applications compatible with mobile, touch enabled devices, like those that run Android and iOS (you can see a screenshot of some demo apps above).

This is an exciting space — HTML5 clearly has a ton of potential, but web apps generally still have a long way to go before they can compete with native apps in terms of features, smoothness, and UI. It looks like Sencha is poised to deliver on this front, and Sequoia’s investment is a big vote of confidence.

As part of today’s news, the company says that it is appointing three new executives to its team: Ted Driscoll becomes VP of Sales; Jeff Hartley VP of Professional Services of Training; and Michael Mullany as VP of Products and Marketing.

Crunchbase

• SENCHA

Company: Sencha

Website: sencha.com

Launch Date: April 1, 2007

Funding: $29M

Sencha makes JavaScript frameworks for desktop and mobile devices. It has a new emphasis on HTML5-based products, like Sencha Touch, a framework for touch-enabled devices like those running iOS and Android. Sencha was formed from the combination of three open source projects: Ext JS, a desktop Ajax framework, jQTouch a jQuery library for touch applications, and Raphael, an SVG library. Sencha received funding from Sequoia Capital and Radar Partners.

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