Bain Capital Ventures invests in seed to growth-stage startups that are using tech to disrupt existing markets or create entirely new ones.  The firm invests from seed to growth in enterprise software, infrastructure software, and industries being transformed by data.  Bain Capital Ventures has helped launch and commercialize 200-plus companies since 2000, including investments in DocuSign, Jet.com, Kiva Systems, LinkedIn, Rapid7, SurveyMonkey, Taleo, and TellApart. Bain Capital Ventures has more than $5.2 billion of assets under management with offices in San Francisco, New York, and Boston.

Bain Capital Ventures

Abstract Ventures is a sector agnostic venture investor in pre-seed, seed, Series A and B startup companies. It serves as pavers for founders, making vital connections for fundraising, talent, customers, and advice. The firm is a dot connector, counting the world’s most visionary investors, founders, and industry leaders as our allies.

Abstract Ventures

Y Combinator is a startup accelerator that invests in a large number of startups twice a year. It created a new model for funding startups. Twice a year, the company invests a small amount of money ($150k) in a large number of startups. The startup accelerator works intensively with the companies for three months, to get them into the best possible shape and refine their pitch to investors. Each cycle culminates in Demo Day when the startups present their companies to a carefully selected, invite-only audience.

Y Combinator

BoxGroup is an early-stage investment fund that invests in technology companies. The fund aims to invest in the consumer, enterprise, fintech, healthcare, life science, and marketplaces industries at the earliest stage, as early as pre-seed round and as late as Series A. It supports companies based on a conviction in the team and seeks entrepreneurs working at the beginning of movements in existing markets or new markets yet to be created and with visions to create the next generation of category-defining businesses. Their typical investment ranges from $200,000 to $500,000. Adam Rothenberg and David Tisch founded BoxGroup in 2009 in New York, New York.

BoxGroup

Soma Capital is a fund built by founders for founders that focuses on software. It has invested seed in startups now worth over $60 billion combined including Cruise, Rappi, Ironclad, Human Interest, Razorpay, Rippling, and Lambda School among others (20 unicorns) It was founded in 2015 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.

Soma Capital

Interlace Ventures is an early stage fund investing in founders reimagining commerce. We invest at pre-seed and seed.

Interlace Ventures

Color Capital is an early-stage consumer fund participating primarily in early and seed-stage financing of consumer-facing companies. It specializes in the fields of financial services, venture capital, and private equity. It was founded in 2018 and headquartered in Portland, Oregon.

Color Capital

Operator Partners invests in early-stage technology companies and founders. The firm was founded in 2020 and is headquartered in New York, United States.

Operator Partners

Contrary is a talent and research-driven investment firm. We back a small number of exceptional people and the companies they build.

Contrary

Andreessen Horowitz is a venture capital firm specializing in investing in seed, start-ups, early, mid-stage, growth, and late-stage. It prefers to invest in the social media business and technology sector with a focus on software, back-end infrastructure, the infrastructure of the Internet, cloud computing, enterprise software and services, consumer, business Internet, mobile-Internet, consumer Internet, cloud computing, data storage, social network browsers data-storage, consumer electronics, networking functions, software related biology, biotech, and medicine companies at the intersection of computer science and life sciences with a focus on digital therapeutics, cloud technology in biology, and computational medicine.

Andreessen Horowitz

FirstMark is an early-stage venture capital firm based in New York City, backing exceptional founders making their mark on the world. FirstMark has proudly invested in founders of remarkable businesses like Pinterest, Shopify, DraftKings, Discord, Airbnb, Stubhub, Riot Games, and dozens more.

FirstMark

Hawke Ventures is an early-stage venture fund that invests $50k-$2M in commerce enablement, MarTech and AdTech.

Hawke Ventures

Boon is an operator led seed stage micro fund investing in the next wave of category defining founders.

Boon Fund

Mu Ventures is a NY pre-seed/seed venture capital firm that invests in commerce software that reduces friction in transactions. We have five sectors of interest that include infra + payments, vertical SAAS, marketplaces, retail tech, and supply chain.

Mu Ventures

Alloy Automation

Alloy Automation is a platform for building and managing SaaS integrations. It’s used by Amazon, Gorgias, Postscript, & others to launch user-facing integrations more quickly than they could in-house. Leveraging Alloy’s development platform, customers can easily spin up ERP, Commerce, CRM, and various other integrations. Founded in 2019, Alloy is backed by $27M from a16z, Bain Capital Ventures, Y Combinator, and others.

Backed by Y Combinator, Alloy offers a no-code platform for ecommerce businesses to create automated workflows for multiple functions, including accounting, logistics, marketing, and store operations. It automates processes by connecting data and actions across SMS, email, ads, and analytics apps. Users can deploy new integrations, manage data workflows, and build connected applications. In July 2023, Alloy expanded its product offerings to serve all industries, having initially served only retail and ecommerce businesses. It offers tailored solutions such as accounts receivable automation, real-time underwriting and balance sheet management for accounting teams, and automated lead routing and lead synchronization for marketing teams.

Automation to improve business efficiency

Workflow Automation Platforms

Alloy Automation on LinkedIn: https://hubs.ly/Q02x5J3T0 We just did a major rebrand. Why? As we've…

Backed by Y Combinator, Alloy offers a no-code platform for ecommerce businesses to create automated workflows for multiple functions, including accounting, logistics, marketing, and store operations. It automates processes by connecting data and actions across SMS, email, ads, and analytics apps. Users can deploy new integrations, manage data workflows, and build connected applications. In July 2023, Alloy expanded its product offerings to serve all industries, having initially served only retail and ecommerce businesses. It offers tailored solutions such as accounts receivable automation, real-time underwriting and balance sheet management for accounting teams, and automated lead routing and lead synchronization for marketing teams.In August 2023, Alloy launched “Alloy Unified API,” a solution that provides a single interface that standardizes different API fields across various apps of the same category. It offers support for models for commerce platforms, ERPs, accounting tools, and customer engagement platforms.Key customers and partnershipsAs of November 2023, the company served thousands of clients across Japan, Canada, Australia, and the UK, along with clients from the US including NFL teams (Baltimore Ravens and Denver Broncos) and OPTE.Alloy allows integration with over 220 applications (as of November 2023) including leading ecommerce platforms such as Shopify, BigCommerce, and WooCommerceIn July 2023, Alloy announced a strategic partnership with ecommerce solutions provider Kibo Commerce to enable Kibo to offer an expanded range of pre-built integrations.Funding and financialsIn February 2022, Alloy <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/8644">raised USD 20 million </a>in Series A funding led by Andreessen Horowitz. The funds were earmarked for doubling its employee base to 40 and supporting marketing efforts.

Headquartered in Berlin, Levity provides a no-code development platform (NDP) for building AI models to automate repetitive tasks. The platform is designed for managing customer service, marketing, and operations workflows, which deal with unstructured data such as images, text, and PDFs such as sales quote automation, direct order entry, and customer track and trace. Users can use simple templates to automate workflows and leverage the platform’s modular AI components (called AI blocks) that combine NLP and computer vision to parse unstructured data types.Levity offers 4 “AI blocks,” which enable users to create deep learning models based on their data to extract, classify, summarize, and generate text. Although the models come pre-trained out of the box, Levity allows users to fine-tune each model based on their requirements.Key customers and partnershipsAs of November 2023, Levity has automated workflows at companies such as HP, Mr. Beast, Reformation, Hear.com, BerlinCusine, and Gelato.It provides integrations with business applications such as Gmail, Outlook, and Zendesk.Funding and financialsIn October 2022, Levity <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/13740">raised USD 8.3 million </a>in seed funding, co-led by Balderton Capital and Chalfen Ventures to expand its employee base and invest in product development.

Levity

<div>
 
 Danish company Leapwork offers a no code workflow automation platform that uses robotic process automation to design, manage, and scale workflows. The company&rsquo;s design &lsquo;language&rsquo; uses flowcharts to graphically represent steps in a workflow and allows users to record processes, validate steps, and input data where needed. The platform also allows users to build web apps, desktop apps, and mobile web and virtual desktop solutions to automate workflows. Moreover, Leapwork&rsquo;s automation solutions can be integrated with a range of third party technologies including SAP, Oracle, Salesforce, and ServiceNow, among others. 
 
 
 Key customers and partnerships
 
 
 The company offers its services to a range of industries including financial institutions, logistics, healthcare, and retail, among others. As of August 2021, around 40% of its customers were part of the banking, insurance, and finance sector, and included companies such as PayPal, Mercedes Benz, BNP Paribas, and Accenture.
 
 
 The company reportedly doubled the number of customers year-over-year (YoY) since 2017 to over 300 customers as of August 2021 of whom around half were North American. The company claims that, with the use of their technology, businesses can achieve a 10x quicker time to market, 97% productivity gains, and a 90% reduction in application errors. As of August 2021, the company operates nine offices throughout Europe, North America, and Asia.
 
 
 Funding and financials
 
 
 In August 2021, Leapwork raised USD 62 million in Series B financing led by KKR and Salesforce Ventures, at a USD 312 million valuation. The company intends to use these funds to recruit new full-time employees in key markets, invest in global expansion, and open tech hubs to advance product development efforts.
 
</div>

Leapwork

<div>
 
 Anvil offers a workflow-building platform that allows users to transform paper processes and PDF documents into digital workflows, using a no-code building tool as well as an API suite with more technical features for developers. The no-code workflow-building tool named &ldquo;Workflows&rdquo; enables users to convert PDF and paper forms into logic-driven web forms to streamline digital data collection and request signatures. Users can then share the completed, signed PDFs and/or data from a secure link.&nbsp;
 
 
 The tool eliminates the repetition of information in entries on multiple documents by using a logic engine that ensures interlinked forms are filled out properly. Moreover, Anvil&rsquo;s own &ldquo;Etch E-sign&rdquo; features, as well as integration with DocuSign, allow users to share and sign forms directly on the platform.&nbsp;
 
 
 In March 2023, Anvil launched a new suite of enterprise products, which include APIs and no-code tools, to enable users to collect data, generate PDFs, and gather signatures within any application. These tools include conditional logic, lists, hidden fields, multi-field editing, single sign-on (SSO), and the ability to embed workflow and template builders.
 
 
 Key customers and partnerships
 
 
 Anvil&rsquo;s integration with Zapier allows users to connect &ldquo;Workflows'' to over 6,000 applications. Anvil provides targeted solutions for the banking and wealth management industries with clients such as Citi, Ameritrade, and Catalyst Wealth Management.&nbsp;
 
 
 Funding and financials
 
 
 In March 2023, Anvil 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/17421">
 raised USD 10 million
 </a>
 in Series A funding from Craft Ventures and Gradient Ventures to secure more enterprise customers, grow its market, and expand its employee base.
 
</div>

Anvil

UiPath offers a low-code process automation platform that includes a suite of products that&nbsp;spans the entire automation lifecycle—from process discovery to automation development and management. These include: 1)&nbsp;process discovery tools that include process and task mining tools, as well as idea capture and management; 2) development tools that include robotic process automation (RPA) software, process orchestration, and intelligent document processing; and 3) operations tools that include automation performance analytics.&nbsp;Users can build automation for a range of repetitive tasks, such as logging into applications, data extraction, moving folders, filling forms, and updating information fields, across a range of business functions like HR, IT, and compliance.&nbsp;In October 2023, the company launched “Autopilot,” a GenAI-powered tool that enables users to automate using natural language. Users can convert documents such as PDFs and images into automation applications, accelerate process testing, and filter, summarize, and create dashboards for process mining.&nbsp;<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/27785">In March 2024</a>,&nbsp;UiPath, launched new features for Autopilot that enable users to create automations,&nbsp;code, and expressions with natural language. Users can generate step-by-step test cases from requirements and any other source documents, generate automations from test steps, and surface insights from test results.&nbsp;Additionally, the company launched&nbsp;several new&nbsp;GenAI features in its&nbsp;platform, including:&nbsp;1) context grounding, which enables users to improve the accuracy of GenAI models via retrieval augmented generation, 2) new large language models (LLMs), specifically designed for document and communications&nbsp;processing, and 3) connectors, which enable users to leverage a number of foundation models from IBM's watsonx.ai platform.UiPath has also expanded its presence in the automation space through acquisitions. In March 2021, the company acquired Elements, an API integration platform, for an undisclosed amount. It leveraged the acquisition to provide API-based automation capabilities to its clients. UiPath went on to acquire Re:infer, a natural language processing platform, in August 2022 to provide its users with the capability to deploy custom machine-learning models to analyze documents and communications data.Key partnerships and customersUiPath has an extensive partner ecosystem with a range of&nbsp;companies, including technology partners that develop integrations for the platform, such as Adobe, Alteryx, DocuSign, Salesforce, and OutSystems, as well as cloud providers like AWS, Google, and Microsoft. The platform provides users access to over 1,400 reusable automation integrations and components to multiple applications, databases, and systems (as of October 2023).&nbsp;In February 2024, the company&nbsp;<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/27109">extended its partnership with Google Cloud</a> to make its platform accessible to a wider range of users via the Google Cloud Marketplace. The partnership also enabled the company to leverage 1) Google’s Vertex AI platform to enable users to infuse GenAI insights into their automations and 2) Google Workspace to offer users access to over 100 Google Cloud and Google Workspace integration activities.&nbsp;In March 2024, the company&nbsp;<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/27554">partnered with Deloitte</a> to introduce a new implementation methodology for enterprise resource planning (ERP) software developed by SAP. It went on to&nbsp;<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/34847">launch an integration</a> with SAP's "Build" process automation software, in October 2024, to enable customers to migrate to SAP S/4HANA Cloud and automate processes across various SAP-based enterprise applications.&nbsp;The company has also entered a number of GenAI-focused partnerships with cloud and AI infrastructure providers.&nbsp;<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/29849">In May 2024</a>, UiPath integrated Microsoft’s GenAI assistant, Copilot for Microsoft 365, into its automation platform to provide joint customers direct access to UiPath’s automation capabilities directly within Copilot for Microsoft 365 and Teams.&nbsp;<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/35133">In October 2024</a>, it went on to integrate Anthropic's Claude 3.5 Sonnet language model into three key products: UiPath Autopilot, Clipboard AI, and a new GenAI healthcare solution. Moreover, during the same period, it&nbsp;<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/35134">partnered with Inflection AI</a>, an LLM developer, to offer an integration that enables users to keep their data on-premises while accessing Inflection AI's system and agentic automation capabilities.As of January 2023, UiPath served over 10,800 customers across a range of industries, including the American Red Cross, BMW Group, Carlsberg, Fujifilm, Japan Airlines, Korea Telecom, and the US Department of Defense.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

UiPath

<div>
 
 Appian offers a low-code platform that provides a suite of products that enable users to build, automate and optimize internal workflows and business processes across the finance, sales, and procurement functions. Users can leverage Appian&rsquo;s low-code declarative programming language named &ldquo;SAIL&rdquo; to build end-to-end process automation, including robotic process automation (RPA) bots, as well as connect customers, employees, systems, and AI. The platform also enables continuous monitoring of processes, tracking business metrics, performance, and return on investment via process dashboards and scorecards.&nbsp;
 
 
 In May 2023, the company released an AI Skill Designer, a low-code tool that enables users to build, train, and deploy custom machine-learning (ML) models. Users can leverage the company&rsquo;s native AI/ML services to integrate AI into existing business functions and automate repetitive tasks such as document classification, email classification and document extraction. Moreover, the company went on to launch &ldquo;AI Copilot,&rdquo; a GenAI-powered assistant, in August 2023. Through this, the company aims to allow users to create workflows using natural language as well as query Appian's data fabric architecture for self-service analytics with instant reports.
 
 
 Appian has expanded its offerings through acquisitions. The company acquired Novayre Solutions, an RPA platform, in 2020 and Lana Labs, a process mining company, in 2021, for undisclosed amounts. It leveraged these acquisitions to expand its automation and RPA, as well as process mining and optimization solutions respectively.
 
 
 Key partnerships and customers
 
 
 Appian has an extensive partner ecosystem with a range of companies, including service partner companies, such as FDM and Revature, and industry-specific technology companies to expand its services for enterprises. In 2021, the company partnered with Redox, a healthcare data platform, to enable health systems and payer entities to securely share patient medical record information. Appian also went on to partner with Swiss Re in October 2023 to launch &ldquo;Connected Underwriting Life Workbench.&rdquo; The solution enables insurers to evaluate and classify risk and handle exceptions and decisions on applications via a single interface.&nbsp;
 
 
 In February 2024, Appian 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/27108">
 partnered with Symphony
 </a>
 , a provider of financial services workflow management solutions, to offer secure communication solutions and automated processes to financial institutions. The partnership enables users to embed auditable omnichannel communications on a number of popular platforms into their workflows on the Appian platform. This includes messaging and voice networks such as WhatsApp, WeChat, and SMS. In April 2024, the company went on to 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/28503">
 partner with AWS
 </a>
 , to combine its own in-built AI capabilities and data fabric with large language models (LLMs) and machine learning services offered by Amazon Bedrock and SageMaker. Appian users can leverage these capabilities to host LLMs while ensuring compliance and data security and create, train, and fine-tune proprietary AI models using their own data. During the same period, the company also
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/28530">
 expanded its partnership with TELUS international
 </a>
 , a Canadian IT services company, to develop an automation-as-a-service product.&nbsp;
 
 
 Appian&rsquo;s data fabric comprises a library of integrations to enterprise systems (such as AWS, Oracle, Salesforce, and DocuSign) that can be used to connect and unify data.&nbsp;
 
 
 As of December 2022, the company served 925 enterprise customers, including Aon, Bayer, Deloitte, Union Bank, Sanofi, and Munich Re, across a range of industries.&nbsp;
 
 
 Funding and financials
 &nbsp;
 
 
 The company generated USD 468 million in revenue in 2022. However, the company was yet to turn profitable with an operating loss of USD USD 145 million in 2022. The company expected revenue to reach USD 538 million&ndash;543 million in 2023 (implying YoY growth of ~15%&ndash;16%).
 
</div>

Appian

Platforms that automate accounting and finance operations such as accounts receivable, reconciliation, transaction matching, financial close management, and intercompany financial management

Software to streamline and automate sales, marketing, and customer relationship management processes, such as qualifying leads, renewal, sales forecasts, pipeline tracking, and identifying overdue closing dates

Platforms that govern repetitive HR and admin processes such as recruitment management, employee onboarding, surveys, HRIS records, and assigning buddies

Platforms to automate operational workflows such as task monitoring and flows, streamlining facility requests, and supply chain management

Platforms that specialize in automating functions other than the four identified segments. These include platforms that automate IT, compliance, claims processing, cybersecurity, and product development

Platforms that offer a range of workflow automation and RPA bots that are not specifically targeted at any business function

Companies which utilize GenAI as a core part of their product offering for workflow automation

Offers solutions for businesses to build workflows and delivers them on a SaaS basis

Used together with RPA bots to optimize existing workflows and build new ones

Uses NLP to understand the information, especially unstructured information, present in workflows

Can automate workloads for several business functions for employees regardless of where they are

Used to extract data, understand and analyze unstructured data, and also deal with high-volume workflows

Now anyone can become a software developer.

Alloy Automation

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