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.
Fun reminder that we’re still in the summer months.
Historically, the third quarter tends to be quiet on the funding front before entering into a bullish fourth quarter. As with most things this year, we can throw those baselines out the window #2020things.
The good news is, total global venture funding in July crept up to $28 billion, the highest we’ve seen this year. If this upward trend continues, there’s a chance Q4 funding will mirror the quarter-over-quarter increase we’ve seen in previous years, despite the curveballs 2020 has thrown our way.
For the July rundown, four out of the five picks were Series C rounds (and the fifth was a Series D), indicating that late-stage funding is growing as we further expand into a digital transformation.
1. BlueVoyant
HQ: New York
Industry: Cybersecurity, Security
Funding: Raised a $68 million Series C round on July 16. Lead Investor: Temasek Holdings.
Web traffic: 167 percent monthly visits growth
Why I’m watching: BlueVoyant provides advanced cyberthreat intelligence, managed security services, and proactive professional services with forensic capabilities for incident response and remediation. Security is the key backbone behind the rapid shift to digital transformation for companies of all sizes, and BlueVoyant offers tailored solutions to accommodate every need and organization size (from startups to Fortune 500 companies).
2. CreatorIQ
HQ: Los Angeles
Industry: Advertising Platforms, Brand Marketing, Enterprise Software, Social Media
Funding: Raised a $24 million Series C on July 21. Lead Investor: Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors.
Web traffic: 95 percent monthly visits growth
Why I’m watching: CreatorIQ is an intelligence-driven platform designed to help enterprises manage their ad campaigns. Recently recognized as a leader in The Forrester New Wave: Influencer Marketing Solutions Report, CreatorIQ is helping companies efficiently capitalize on their ability to track and measure paid campaigns with influencers across the globe.
3. Openpath
HQ: Los Angeles
Industry: Hardware, Identity Management, Property Management, Intrusion Detection
Funding: Raised a $36 million Series C on July 16. Lead Investor: Greycroft.
Web traffic: 57 percent monthly visits growth
Why I’m watching: Openpath Security offers a mobile and cloud enabled access control system for businesses and landlords. Once we all get back into the office (whenever that may be), safety and cleanliness will be two of the biggest concerns for employers across the globe. Openpath’s patented Triple Unlock technology allows individuals to unlock doors and rooms through a touchless technology, which does not depend on internet or cell service.
4. MariaDB
HQ: Finland
Industry: Database, Enterprise Software, Technical Support
Funding: Raised $25 million in a Series C on July 9. Lead Investor: SmartFin.
Web traffic: 46 percent monthly visits growth
Why I’m watching: MariaDB frees companies from the costs, constraints and complexity of proprietary databases. Whether a company is looking to move to the cloud or escape a legacy database, MariaDB has quickly risen in the database space with flexible and cost efficient solutions for a variety of use cases within the developer ecosystem.
5. OwnBackup
HQ: New Jersey
Industry: Cloud Computing, Data Storage, Enterprise Software, SaaS
Funding: Raised a Series D on July 7. Lead Investor: Insight Partners.
Web traffic: 40 percent monthly visits growth
Why I’m watching: OwnBackup provides backup and recovery solutions for companies that use Salesforce. Whether you have one or 1 million users on Salesforce, OwnBackup proactively prevents you from losing access to mission-critical data. As Salesforce continues to dominate the CRM space, vendors like OwnBackup are primed to ride its coattails as a must-have solution.
What did I miss? Send me your thoughts on Twitter @shamu5noonan.
– Shamus
