In “The Monthly Rundown” series, I dive into a few up-and-coming startups from the past month, filtering by recent funding rounds and significant influxes of new website visitors. Stay tuned for an updated list each month and get a jump on the competition.
While most of us were consumed with other world events in November, let’s not forget the red-hot startups that raised a fresh round of funding last month.
While overall deal count in November was low, total funding exceeded that of October by half a billion, meaning that although there were less deals, the deals (on average) were larger.
Sales friends: As you look to finish the year strong, start planting your seeds for Q1 2021 by getting these companies on your radar. They will be growing like crazy and will need help scaling all aspects of their businesses.
Find more prospects with Crunchbase Pro – try it for free.
This month’s batch of hot startups with new funding in November range from compliance software companies and natural language processing to what could be the next Gen Z social media platform.
Fun fact: Our top two companies in this month’s rundown are female-founded!
Enjoy!
1. Venminder
HQ: Elizabethtown, Kentucky, United States
Diversity Spotlight: Woman-Founded Company
Industry: Software, Compliance, Fintech
Funding: Raised a $33 million Series C on Nov. 6. Lead Investor: Silversmith Capital Partners
Web traffic: 13,543 percent monthly visits growth
Why I’m watching: Venminder is a SaaS platform that guides and streamlines third-party risk management. After tripling its revenue over the past three years, Venminder noted that COVID raised the importance of keeping customer data safe with the increased reliance on remote teams. This latest $33 million Series C funding round will help the company continue its path of expansion, as well as address the complex and evolving challenges its customers face when managing vendor relationships.
2. Ayar Labs
HQ: Emeryville, California, United States
Diversity Spotlight: Woman-Founded Company
Industry: Hardware, Semiconductor, Information Technology
Funding: Raised a $35 million Series B on Nov. 5 Lead Investors: BlueSky Capital, Downing Ventures
Web traffic: 455 percent monthly visits growth
Why I’m watching: Ayar Labs develops an optical I/O solution for applications that require high bandwidth and low latency using light to move data. TLDR; they make faster computing speeds and use far less power consumption (and heat). Ayar Labs noted that the funding will be used to continue developing its product as well as working on further commercialization.
3. Verbit
HQ: New York City, New York, United States
Industry: Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing
Funding: Raised a $60 million Series C on Nov. 19. Lead Investor: Sapphire Ventures
Web traffic: 62 percent monthly visits growth
Why I’m watching: Verbit uses smart AI technology to disrupt captioning and transcription with speed and automation. The company credits its recent growth to the digital shift during the COVID-19 crisis that led to more companies issuing transcripts summarizing meetings, and universities assisting students with lesson transcripts. Verbit recently reported a 400 percent YoY rise in revenue and raised an additional $31 million in January 2020, bringing its total funding to $126 million.
4. MindTickle
HQ: San Francisco, California, United States
Industry: Enterprise Software, Sales Automation, SaaS
Funding: Raised a $100 million Series D on Nov. 16. Lead Investor: SoftBank Vision Fund
Web traffic: 41 percent monthly visits growth
Why I’m watching: MindTickle is a software company that offers sales readiness and enablement tools for businesses. The latest round values the sales enablement platform at $500 million (post-money valuation). The newly raised funds will go toward expanding global operations and investing in product innovation.
5. Yubo
HQ: Paris, Ile-de-France, France
Industry: Social Network, Apps
Funding: Raised a $47.5 million Series C on Nov. 17.
Web traffic: 34 percent monthly visits growth
Why I’m watching: Yubo may be the biggest social media platform you haven’t heard of yet. Based out of Paris, Yubo is the social platform where Generation Z creates communities of friends around the world. With 40 million registered users, the platform’s fanbase is rapidly expanding across the globe. This social network takes a unique approach to social media by disabling “like” and “comment” buttons so users do not compete in the vicious cycle of constantly comparing and competing for “who has the most likes.”
What did I miss? Send me your thoughts on Twitter @shamu5noonan.
– Shamus
