Sanas, theCut, Joshin, Shepherd, Rattle— 6th September, 2021
We see about 5,000 startups each week, and I want to give you a glimpse into how we at Headline think about trending tech companies and tracking new investment opportunities. In this post, I’m highlighting top tech companies that have announced or raised a seed round within the past week.
Sanas
EVA Growth Index:
Product:
AI-enabled software that translates the accent of an individual on calls to a wanted geography
Lead Investors:
Human Capital
Total Raised:
$6M
Comparables:
N/A
My Thoughts:
An incredibly innovative product with the natural target market being off-shore call centers. I see so many other applications as well though. Can’t wait to see the product in action.
theCut
EVA Growth Index:
Product:
Vertical SaaS-enabled marketplace to connect barbers with new clients and manage their relationships, appointments, and payments
Lead Investors:
NextGen Venture Partners
Total Raised:
$4.5M
Comparables:
Squire
My Thoughts:
The all-in-one app any barber needs to run their business off their phone. I don’t see a world where a barber does not use a product like this within the next decade.
Joshin
EVA Growth Index:
No external sources showing growth
Product:
Discovery marketplace for disability care from vetted and experienced caregivers
Lead Investors:
Autism Impact Fund, Anthemis Group
Total Raised:
$5M
Comparables:
Sprout Therapeutics
My Thoughts:
I see supply as the key growth lever for Joshin, as discovery in this large category is extremely tough. This could become very large!
Shepherd
EVA Growth Index:
No external sources showing growth
Product:
SaaS solution to digitize and speed up the delivery of contractor insurance by insurance agents in the construction space
Lead Investors:
Spark Capital
Total Raised:
$6M
Comparables:
N/A
My Thoughts:
Selling to agents instead of the contractors in this space looks to be a smart approach to reduce customer acquisition costs and have better retention metrics while digitizing a massive market.
Rattle
EVA Growth Index:
Product:
SaaS solution to bi-directionally connect Salesforce with Slack and increase productivity by enabling in-Slack Salesforce notifications, reducing data entry, and driving autonomous workflows
Lead Investors:
Lightspeed India Partners
Total Raised:
$3M
Comparables:
N/A
My Thoughts:
As Salesforce pushes Slack on to all its customers, the applicable market for Rattle will drastically increase over the coming year — smart! My question would be all around Salesforce’s build or buy decision if Rattle reaches product-market fit and scale.
Hi, I am Nicolas von Blottnitz, an Associate at Headline’s SF office focusing on Consumer, Fintech, and SaaS businesses. Since joining in 2018, I have led our investments in Tabnine, Polygon, Flockjay, Solid, and Grin.
What is the EVA Growth Index?
The EVA Growth index is a composite of third-party data sources around a company’s website traffic. The vertical green lines in the charts represent a point in time where the company raised outside capital.