In this edition of Localogy’s Local Radar, we examine newly funded companies Bounce, Cogna & Writer
1. Bounce
One of the traits that makes local commerce so opportune is its size. It’s not only big in annual revenue but broad in terms of the types of businesses and verticals that it contains. Even we stumble upon new categories all the time. The latest such category is traveler convenience. These are physical locations set up to accommodate travelers, including offerings like coin-operated luggage storage and convenience goods (think: shaving kits and energy drinks). Bounce is one company looking to define this category, calling itself “cloud storage for the physical world.” That translates to a mobile app that helps travelers locate places to access services and temporarily store stuff. In that sense, it’s a marketplace model where it connects demand (travelers) with supply (local stores & venues). The latter takes the form of 13,000 local business partners that have extra space to store luggage and accept packages, which receive affiliate revenue for participating. The San Francisco-based company recently raised $19 million in Series B, and its revenue has grown 20x since its $12M Series A in spring 2022. It plans to use the funding to fuel growth, including international expansion to traveller-heavy markets like Asia Pacific. In fact, traveler convenience is an established business in Japan, making it fertile ground for Bounce, as there’s built-in demand and less market education necessary. And part of this plan is to grow from the 13,000 partner locations noted above to 30,000 by the end of 2026.
2. Cogna
One of AI’s most promising and practical areas of application is as a writing co-pilot. And of course, there are several types of writing. One where AI is primed to assist is in writing software code. U.K.-based Cogna is tackling this opportunity with $15 million in fresh Series A funding, bringing its cumulative funding to just under $20 million. Its platform is meant to write custom software and apps for enterprises that handle their enterprise resource planning (ERP). This is of course a massive subsegment of the enterprise SaaS world, led by giants such as SAP. In that sense, Cogna hopes to disrupt it with a more streamlined approach for custom-built ERP software for each client. And again, the customization and configuration builds itself using AI. In that sense, Cogna is not only disrupting off-the-shelf ERP software players like SAP, but also the massive consulting industry that exists to customize those platforms for a given enterprise. That makes tech and management consulting the latest industry to be threatened by AI. We’ll see if Cogna can pull it off. A massive prize awaits the company if it can.
3. Writer
Sticking with AI-assisted software code, San Francisco-based startup Writer just raised a whopping $200 million Series C for its full-stack generative AI platform. This brings the company’s total lifetime funding to $326 million and its post-money valuation to $1.9 billion. The company focuses on AI agents that can complete code-writing workflows across enterprise systems and functional departments. The enterprise ROI here is usually apparent, due to the time savings that can be accomplished through automating all that code. For the same reason, this space is filling up fast, but Writer has been able to stay well exposed and differentiated, as shown by hundreds of clients including well-known brands like Ally Bank, Qualcomm, Salesforce, Uber, Accenture, L’Oréal, and Intuit. Meanwhile, its Series C round was led by Premji Invest, Radical Ventures, and ICONIQ Growth, with participation from Adobe Ventures, B Capital, Citi Ventures, IBM Ventures, Salesforce Ventures, and Workday Ventures. It will use the funds to continue developing its core platform and expanding its team to do so.
Header Image Credit: American Green Travel on Unsplash
