15 Enterprise Tech Startups Poised to Come out Stronger From
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www.businessinsider.com May 16, 2020 BI PRIME 15 enterprise tech startups poised to come out stronger from the COVID-19 crash, according to the VCs that invested in them — including John Chambers and Sapphire Ventures Benjamin Pimentel Silicon Valley legend John Chambers believes up to 45% of US startups aren’t going to make it. But the former Cisco CEO and current venture capital inves- •mMany tech startups collapse during economic tor also notes that history has shown that great com- downturns, but that’s also when the companies panies do emerge during hard times. built to last emerge. “Almost all the great high-tech companies in each generation — companies like Cisco, Salesforce, •m“Almost all the great high-tech companies Oracle, Microsoft, Google — were the ones that in each generation — companies like Cisco, Sales- broke away during an economic crisis,” he told force, Oracle, Microsoft, Google — were the ones Business Insider. “[A downturn] limits your com- petitor’s ability to access the money. It also limits that broke away during an economic crisis,” the number of companies that come at you: You’re former Cisco CEO John Chambers told Business able to break away and gain market share at a much Insider. faster pace.” Another venture capital investor, Dell Technologies •mPredicting the next Cisco, Salesforce, or Goo- Capital president Scott Darling, agreed that some gle is tough, but Chambers and other veteran startups are already “benefiting pretty substantially venture capitalists pointed to 15 startups in their from this environment,” particularly because of the portfolios that they believe are poised to come sudden pivot to remote work. out stronger from the COVID-19 crisis. While he’d rather not try to predict “the next Goo- gle” because “trying to guess the next trillion dollar hile tech startups that were burning company is probably not going to be a successful ex- through VC cash without meaningful ercise,” he, Chambers, and others weighed in one revenue may crash and burn because of which companies from their portfolios they thought an economic downturn, some will come would likely be more successful than their peers. Wout the other side stronger, more nimble, and wiser. Here are 15 tech startups that Darling, Chambers, The COVID-19 crisis has already forced some start- and two other VCs plucked from their portfolios ups to cut jobs and benefits as they reel from a sud- that they expect to come out of the COVID-19 crisis den slump that many fear is leading to a recession. stronger than before: Noodle.ai Noodle.ai CEO Stephen Pratt Funding: $72 million Top Investors: Dell Technologies Capital, TPG Growth Recommended by: Scott Darling, Dell Technologies Cap- ital (investor) What it does: Noodle.ai offers AI-as-a-service to help busi- nesses improve their operations, particularly their supply chains. For example, as the pandemic caused disruptions in the economy, the San Francisco-based startup’s tech al- lowed its clients to quickly handle supply chain issues. “Supply chains were gyrating all over the place and hav- ing a machine learning algorithm that can help people manage supply chains, manage queues, and that sort of NOODLE thing is really critical,” Dell’s Darling told Business Insider. Noodle.ai CEO Stephen Pratt Nantero Nantero CEO Greg Schmergel Monday.com Monday.com cofounders Roy Mann and Eran Zinman Funding: $127 million Top Investors: Dell Technologies Capital, Globespan Cap- Funding: $234.1 million ital Partners Top Investors: Sapphire Ventures, Insight Partners Recommended by: Scott Darling, Dell Technologies Cap- Recommended by: Jai Das, Sapphire Ventures (investor) ital (investor) What it does: The shift to remote work is leading to a What it does: Nantero uses carbon nanotubes as an alter- growing need for tools that make it easier for teams to native to typical semiconductor chips to store and deliver collaborate. memory faster and with greater reliability. Sapphire Ventures President Jai Das said collaboration “[Nantero] will fundamentally alter the industry,” Dell’s startups such as Monday.com are poised to gain traction Darling said. “It will change the entire dynamics of what because of that trend. memory hierarchies look like and how memory is used.” “You can’t really just have hallway conversations any- As the continued expansion of the cloud and the rise of more,” he said, which makes online collaboration plat- data-intensive technologies like artificial intelligence in- forms even more valuable for businesses adapting to the crease the need for better storage, the Woburn, Massachu- new normal of remote work. setts tech company will benefit, he believes. Pensando Uniphore Pensando CEO Prem Jain Uniphore CEO and Founder Umesh Sachdev Funding: $278 million Funding: $67 million Top Investors: Lightspeed Ventures, Hewlett Packard Top Investors: JC2 Ventures, March Capital Partners Enterprise Recommended by: John Chambers, JC2 Ventures (investor) Recommended by: John Chambers, JC2 Ventures (investor) What it does: Uniphore uses voice AI to help businesses What it does: Pensando, which came out of stealth mode improve customer calls and relationships. Founded in In- late last year, is taking aim at what cofounder Chambers dia in 2008, the startup moved its headquarters to Silicon says will be the next big trend in the cloud: edge comput- Valley late last year. ing. That’s the technology that gives cloud-connected de- “We have now truly hit an inflection point,” CEO Umesh vices the ability to access on-board computing power to Sachdev told Business Insider at the time. “We’re growing perform tasks faster. faster and faster each year. When that’s happening, you This is critical in markets like manufacturing or autono- just know you hit a rising tide. You are at the right place at mous driving, where there’s not always time to wait for a the right time.” response from a cloud server. Like other startups, Uniphore is feeling the effects of the Chambers, who is Pensando’s chairman, believes the COVID-19 downturn. But Chambers, who has become a company is well-positioned to catch that wave: “There’s mentor to Sachdev, says that he’s been impressed with his opportunity for a new leader in this area,” he said. leadership during the downturn. He expects Uniphore to The startup is led by four executives and engineers who emerge from the crisis as a major player in AI, thanks to its worked under Chambers at Cisco: Mario Mazzola, Luca Ca- “very good strategy” and ability to execute. fiero, Prem Jain, and Soni Jiandani. Graphcore What it does: Guru is a collaboration and knowledge Graphcore founders Nigel Toon and Simon Knowles management software that makes it easier to access infor- mation, documents, and other files that may be stored in Funding: $460 million different programs and platforms. Top Investors: Sequoia, Dell Technologies Capital The Philadelphia startup is poised to gain more traction in Recommended by: Scott Darling, Dell Technologies Capital the world of remote work, Accel partner Ben Fletcher said. What it does: The rise of AI has led to a greater need for “When you’re in an office environment, you can go processors that can handle the massive computing require- and tap the senior person on the shoulder and say, ‘Hey, ments of data-hungry systems. how do I do this?’ or ‘Where do I find this?’” he told While tech giants like Intel and Nvidia are scrambling to Business Insider. meet that need, a crop of AI chip startups has popped up Not right now. too, including Graphcore. “[Guru has] enabled all of that to happen within Slack — “They may fundamentally redefine what the silicon looks or within the environments where you work — and will pop like for machine learning,” Darling said. up that information,” he said. Moveworks Hopin Moveworks CEO Bhavin Shah Hopin, founder and CEO: Johnny Boufarhat Funding: $105 million Funding: $6 million Top Investors: Sapphire Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, ICO- Top Investor: Accel NIQ Capital Recommended by: Ben Fletcher, Accel (investor) Recommended by: Jai Das, Sapphire Ventures (investor) What it does: As the coronavirus crisis has forced many What it does: Moveworks is another hot AI startup that companies to move their events online, tools to make virtual was growing rapidly before the COVID-19 crisis hit. The get-togethers more engaging are in more demand than ever. Mountain View, California-based company helps business- Hopin, a London-based online events platform, launched es automate their tech support. last year because of the rising popularity of webinars and Sapphire’s Das expects Moveworks to continue doing other large-scale online events. well in the crisis as businesses adapt to the needs of a re- Its timing now feels prescient: Hopin is poised for growth mote workforce, like network glitches and log-in problems. because of the global pivot to remote work, Accel’s Fletch- “People are working from home, and the number of IT er said. tickets has gone through the roof,” he said. “[Moveworks’ “They had a great vision: There was a lot going on online technology] automatically understands the message, inter- with the shift to webinars,” he said. “But now they’re tak- prets it, and actually goes in and fixes that problem for you.” ing it a step further as companies are looking to accelerate their online and digital presence.” ASAPP ASAPP CEO Gustavo Sapoznik Xometry Xometry CEO Randy Altschuler Funding: $260 million Top Investors: JC2 Partners, March Capital Partners, Funding: $118 million Telstra Ventures, John Doerr Top Investors: Dell Technologies Capital, Robert Bosch Recommended by: John Chambers, JC2 Ventures (investor) Venture Capital, Highland Capital Partners What it does: ASAPP is another startup that uses AI to Recommended by: Scott Darling, Dell Technologies help businesses improve customer relationships, including Capital (investor) through call center operations.