Market Gap Startups

Freightos is a SaaS-enabled marketplace platform that digitizes international air and ocean freight shipping. Founded in 2012, the company spent four years (2012-2016) building data infrastructure similar to Sabre and Amadeus before launching its public marketplace in 2016. Today, it serves 1,500 freight forwarders representing 30% of the world air freight market share and growing the marketplace side at over 100% annually.

Segment helps mid-market banks (under $100B in AUM) understand and categorize transaction data using machine learning and AI-powered rules engines. Founded by Rob Heiser, the company has grown from 12 customers in October 2018 to over 100 banks serving 10+ million customers combined, charging 6-20 cents per customer per month. The company raised $30 million, grew approximately 100% YoY in 2019, and projected 120-200% growth in 2020 despite COVID-19 disruptions.

Stitched Insights is a SaaS platform using deep learning and NLP to analyze customer feedback from support tickets, emails, and surveys to generate ranked SWOT analysis and market insights. Founded by Demetri Pavlov in 2018, the company grew from ~$60K in 2018 revenue to ~$100K in 2019 while bootstrapping with founder capital and strategic partnerships through GSV Labs, with a goal of reaching $1.5M ARR by end of 2020.

Shift is an online used car marketplace founded in 2014 that allows customers to buy and sell cars with home delivery and test drive services. In 2019, they sold 11,500 cars at an average price of $15,000-$17,000 (~$200M in GMV), generating approximately $45M in total revenue (2/3 from car margins, 1/3 from financing and warranties). The company has raised $225M in equity and $75M in debt, targeting IPO when reaching 15,000+ annual car sales volume.

Branzuka is a self-service programmatic advertising platform launched in 2015 that democratizes TV advertising by enabling small businesses to run targeted ads on OTT platforms like Sling and Roku—previously only available to large enterprises. The company grew from 400 users and $40K revenue in 2015 to 25,000 users and $1.5M in 2016, with guidance for $5M gross revenue in 2017, while raising $4.5M and closing a $7M Series A at a $20M+ pre-money valuation.

Tal Vista is a SaaS platform focused on diversity and inclusion in recruiting, launched in April 2019 by serial entrepreneur Scott Sessions. Operating bootstrapped and at break-even, the company had 5-10 customers and was approaching $1M ARR just months after launch by focusing on high-touch, high-ACV enterprise sales (ranging from $50k-$500k annually per customer).

FindCRA, launched in 2017, is a SaaS platform helping local banks comply with the Community Reinvestment Act by identifying qualified nonprofits for community investments. After pivoting from a high-touch agency model in 2016, the company now offers a data-driven, scalable platform with three pricing tiers ($1,250-$5,000 annually). With 11 banks currently using the platform and $14-15k ARR, they've raised $900,000 and operate a 3-person team based in Louisville, Kentucky.

Faraday is an AI-powered SaaS platform founded in 2012 that helps e-commerce and consumer brands predict customer behavior to drive lead generation, conversion, and lifetime value. Operating with a high-touch, enterprise sales model, the company has grown to 60 enterprise clients with an average contract value of ~$100k, generating approximately $6 million in ARR with $7.1 million raised to date.

Vandex is a blockchain consulting agency founded in 2013 by Kevin Hobbs and Lisa Chang that helps companies build blockchain solutions and conduct token sales. The company has grown to 42 full-time employees and generated $3.2M in revenue over the past 12 months from dozens of clients including Fortune 100/500 companies, government institutions, and banks. They're expanding into SaaS with Ether Party, a no-code smart contract platform, which has 4,000 people on its waitlist and is planning to launch a securitized token offering as their first equity product.

Passage Ways launched Onboard in 2014, a SaaS platform for secure board collaboration and information sharing on mobile devices and tablets. The company has grown to over 1,000 enterprise customers with a $7,000 average contract value and $7 million ARR, growing 60-70% year-over-year with 109% net revenue retention. Founded by Perun Shada (who started the legacy OnSemple employee collaboration product in 2003), the company raised $5 million in equity capital and employs 100 people across Indiana, Canada, and the UK.

Clear C2 is a bootstrapped CRM platform launched in 1998 that evolved from an IBM reseller into a specialized solution for manufacturing companies. With over 5 million ARR, 450 paid customers, 80,000+ seats, and 60% YoY growth, the company operates with just 45-50 employees and maintains a sub-10% logo churn rate. They're transitioning to a more self-service, user-friendly model to capture smaller deals and reduce CAC from the current $10,000 per $6,000/month customer.

Simplify is a programmatic advertising platform founded in 2010 that brings sophisticated ad tech to local advertisers and multi-location brands. Growing at 40% YoY with 400 billing customers and 30,000 advertisers, the company achieved profitability three years before being majority acquired by private equity firm GTCR in 2017, with founders reinvesting half their proceeds. Processing hundreds of millions in ad spend annually with a 130% net revenue retention rate, Simplify generates revenue through platform fees (9-16 cents per dollar spent) and managed services fees (10% of spend).

Carbon Black is a cybersecurity SaaS company that protects endpoints (laptops, desktops, servers) against advanced threats by monitoring device activity and enabling attack replay and remediation. Under Patrick Morley's 10+ year leadership, the company scaled from ~$100k ARR with 20 employees to nearly $200M ARR with 4,300 customers including 35-36 of the Fortune 100, having raised $191M before going public in May 2018. The company charges approximately $30 per device per year and has built a subscription model with strong retention focus, ultimately achieving a $1.57B market cap.

GasSend is a hardware and SaaS company founded by Jennifer Reina in 2016 that helps manage propane distribution in Latin America. The company sells IoT devices that measure propane levels and provide marketplace access to suppliers with transparency ratings, while generating recurring revenue through a SaaS dashboard ($20/month for B2B, $1 per transaction for residential). After 2.5 years, GasSend has sold 2,200 devices, generated $100,000 in annual revenue, and is raising $1M at a $6M post-money valuation to scale manufacturing and expand into four Latin American countries.

Assembla is an enterprise cloud-based source code management and version control platform founded in 2005 and acquired by Scaleworks in 2016. Under new CEO Paul Lynch's leadership, the company pivoted upstream from small developers to enterprise customers, increasing ARPU from ~$100-200/month to $500-1500/month by targeting compliance-conscious CIOs. Currently serving 3,500 customers with net negative revenue churn, the company is growing 60% YoY and approaching $1M MRR with a lean 45-person team.

Travel Perks is a B2B business travel platform founded in 2015 by Aviv and two co-founders after selling a previous startup (Hotel Ninjas) to Booking.com. The platform offers free, consumer-grade booking for corporate business travel, generating revenue through commissions from suppliers (hotels, airlines, credit card companies). Growing 10X year-over-year with GMV approaching $100M annually, the company has raised $30M+ and now has a team of ~100 people with 50+ in engineering and product.

Answer Media is an ad tech company founded by Lauren Wilson and Eric Hayes that operates as a diversified video advertising platform. The company processes north of $10 million in annual ad spend through its network, generating well into the eight figures in revenue. They've expanded beyond their core ad network business to include a virtual video studio with 200 freelance contributors and technology solutions focused on publisher monetization.

Proximate.io is a pre-revenue enterprise SaaS platform for sales intelligence and predictive analytics, founded by Ross Andrews and technical co-founder Thomas Bowles. The four-person bootstrapped team (all under 26) has spent 7 months in development and is currently in beta with target launch in fall/early winter, aiming for 500 licenses within 12 months of full launch at $200/month per seat.

OwnerIQ, founded by Jay Habegger in 2007, is a programmatic advertising platform that enables transparent data exchange between brands and retailers. The company serves ~600 active brands monthly (1,000 total) and has raised $40 million in venture capital, generating approximately $70 million in annual revenue with 55-60% gross margins. Growth has been driven by enterprise direct sales to major retailers and brands seeking predictable, recurring revenue from data partnerships.

Workato is an enterprise integration platform founded in 2012 by Vijay Tella and three co-founders. The company helps large enterprises connect hundreds of apps and automate cross-app workflows, with a GitHub-like approach featuring 22,000-25,000 public integration recipes. With over 21,000 organizations signed up, 1,000+ paying customers, and 300% year-over-year growth in 2017, Workato has raised $17 million and operates with strong unit economics (sub-12-month CAC payback, 50%+ net revenue expansion).