Here’s how fast a few dozen startups grew in Q3 2020

Image Credits: Nigel Sussman

Earlier this week I asked startups to share their Q3 growth metrics and whether they were performing ahead or behind of their yearly goals.

Lots of companies responded. More than I could have anticipated, frankly. Instead of merely giving me a few data points to learn from, The Exchange wound up collecting sheafs of interesting data from upstart companies with big Q3 performance.

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Naturally, the startups that reached out were the companies doing the best. I did not receive a single reply that described no growth, though a handful of respondents noted that they were behind in their plans.

Regardless, the data set that came together felt worthy of sharing for its specificity and breadth — and so other startup founders can learn from how some of their peer group are performing. (Kidding.)

Let’s get into the data, which has been segmented into buckets covering fintech, software and SaaS, startups focused on developers or security and a final group that includes D2C and fertility startups, among others.

Q3 performance

Obviously, some of the following startups could land in several different groups. Don’t worry about it! The categories are relaxed. We’re here to have fun, not split hairs!

Fintech

• Numerated: According to Numerated CEO Dan O’Malley, his startup that helps companies more quickly access banking products had a big Q3. “Revenue for the first three quarters of 2020 is 11X our origination 2020 plan, and 18X versus the same period in 2019,” he said in an email. What’s driving growth? Bank digitization, O’Malley says, which has “been forced to happen rapidly and dramatically” in 2020.
• BlueVine: BlueVine does banking services for SMBs; think things like checking accounts, loans and payments. The company is having a big year, sharing with TechCrunch via email that it has expanded its customer base “by 660% from Q1 2020 to” this week. That’s not a revenue metric, and it’s not Q3-specific, but as both Numerated and BlueVine cited the PPP program as a growth driver, it felt worthy of inclusion.
• Harvest Platform: A consumer-focused fintech, Harvest helps folks recover fees, track their net worth and bank. In an email, Harvest said it “grew well over 1000%+” in the third quarter and is “ahead of its 2020 plan” thanks to more folks signing up for its service and what a representative described as “economic tailwinds.” The savings and investing boom continues, it appears.

Software/SaaS

• Uniphore: Uniphore provides AI-based conversational software products to other companies used for chatting to customers and security purposes. According to Uniphore CEO Umesh Sachdev, the company grew “320% [year-over-year] in our Q2 FY21 (July-sept 2020),” or a period that matches the calendar Q3 2020. Per the executive, that result was “on par with [its] plan.” Given that growth rate, is Uniphore a seed-stage upstart? Er, no, it raised a $51 million Series C in 2019. That makes its growth metrics rather impressive as its implied revenue base from which it grew so quickly this year is larger than we’d expect from younger companies.
• Text Request: An SMS service for SMBs, Text Request grew loads in Q3, telling TechCrunch that it “billed 6x more than we did in 2019’s Q3,” far ahead of its target for doubling billings. A company director said that while “customer acquisition was roughly on par with expectations,” the value of those customers greatly expanded. I dug into the numbers and was told that the 6x figure is for total dollars billed in Q3 2020 inclusive of recurring and non-recurring incomes. For just the company’s recurring software product, growth was a healthy 56% in Q3.
• Notarize: Digital notarization startup Notarize — Boston-based, which most recently raised a $35 million Series C — is way ahead of where it expected to be, with a VP at the company telling TechCrunch that during “the first week of lockdowns, Notarize’s sales team got 3,000+ inquiries,” which it managed to turn into revenues. The same person added that the startup is “probably 5x ahead of [its] original 2020 plan,” with the substance measured being annual recurring revenue, or ARR. We’d love some hard numbers as well, but that growth pace is spicy. (Notarize also announced it grew 400% from March to July, earlier this year.)
• BurnRate.io: Acceleprise-backed Burnrate.io hasn’t raised a lot of money, but that hasn’t stopped it from growing quickly. According to co-founder and CEO Robert McLaws, BurnRate “started selling in Q4 of last year” so it did not have a pure Q3 2019 versus Q3 2020 metric to share. But the company managed to grow 3.3x from Q4 2019 to Q3 2020 per the executive, which is still great. BurnRate provides software that helps startups plan and forecast, with the company telling TechCrunch with yearly planning season coming up, it expects sales to keep growing.

• Gravy Analytics: Location data as a service! That’s what Gravy Analytics appears to do, and apparently it’s been a good run thus far in 2020. The company told TechCrunch that it has seen sales rise 80% year-to-date over 2019. This is a bit outside our Q3 scope as it’s more 2020 data, but we can be generous and still include it.
• ChartHop: TechCrunch covered ChartHop earlier this year when it raised $5 million in a round led by Andreessen Horowitz. A number of other investors took part, including Cowboy Ventures and Flybridge Capital. Per our coverage, ChartHop is a “new type of HR software that brings all the different people data together in one place.” The model is working well, with the startup reporting that since its February seed round — that $5 million event — it has grown 10x. The company recently raised a Series A. Per a rep via email, ChartHop is “on-target” for its pre-pandemic business plan, but “far ahead” of what it expected at the start of the pandemic.
• Credo: Credo is a marketplace for digital marketing talent. It’s actually a company I’ve known for a long-time, thanks to founder John Doherty. According to Doherty, Credo has “grown revenue 50% since June, while only minimally increasing burn.” Very good.
• Canva: Breaking my own rules about only including financial data, I’m including Canva because it sent over strong product data that implies strong revenue growth. Per the company, Canva’s online design service has seen “increased growth over both Q2 and Q3, with an increase of 10 million users in Q3 alone (up from 30 million users in June).” Thirty-three percent user growth, from 30 to 40 million, is impressive. And, the company added that it saw more team-based usage since the start of the pandemic, which we presume implies the buying of more expensive, group subscriptions. Next time real revenue, please, but this was still interesting.

Developer/Security

• Fivetran: Fivetran does stuff with data. I won’t lie, it’s not a space that I always 100% understand. But, here goes: Fivetran sits between a company’s business data and its eventual destination (storage, etc.), helping to tidy up what comes in, and query it all when it is stored. Something like that. What matters is that the company reported that it has “doubled year over year and [has] been meeting [its] original 2020 plan,” which is quite good. The company’s fiscal quarters don’t line up with the calendar period, so we’re allowing this style of reporting. (Fivetran recently raised $100 million.)

• Thinscale: Thinscale makes software that helps make remote work secure. So, guess how well its year has gone? Very well. Per the company, Thinscale’s Q3 2020 was “4x” its Q3 2019 numbers, helping the company push “well ahead” of its original 2020 plan. Notably Thinscale is also 17% ahead of its amended plan it put together in March of this year and expects 200% year-over-year growth in 2020. Notably Crunchbase has no data on the company having raised money, but, you’d think with numbers like that, investors would be knocking its doors down.
• Openpath: TechCrunch covered Openpath back in July when it raised $36 million, calling it a “software-based security systems for office access.” There’s good news for investors in that round, as the company has been growing quickly, telling TechCrunch that it “more than doubled” its revenues in Q3 2020 compared to Q3 2019. And in a bout of honesty, Openpath disclosed that while it is “significantly ahead” of its amended 2020 plan, it is “slightly behind” its original forecast for the year. Still, Openpath is optimistic because its tech has “become a necessity for safely reopening spaces and returning to work,” adding that in markets where folks are working in offices again, business is “booming.”

• HackerRank: HackerRank, which helps match developers and companies looking to hire them, is growing quickly. Via email, the startup said that its Q3 “exceeded” its plan by 128%. The startup grew 76% from Q2 2020 to Q3 2020, which is very quick. A rep for the HackerRank said the last three months were “the best Q3 in the company’s history.” Not bad!

Consumer and health-focused

• Quizlet: Natasha is our edtech expert, but I was curious to see what data Quizlet would have. The company shared some non-financial information that we can map to revenue, so I’m including it in this post. Per a rep, the company “saw a 200% to 400% increase in students and teachers signing up for the platform” in its 50 largest markets since the start of the pandemic. That could mean real money, as Quizlet charges for its product on a SaaS basis. The startup recently raised $30 million at a $1 billion valuation, so we can presume that some of those users are paying up for Quizlet.

• Frontdesk: Frontdesk is akin to an Airbnb, but seemingly more centrally managed. You can rent an apartment for a few days, but from a company instead of someone who might have a rogue dog. The company raised $6.8 million in April and reports just under 46% growth from Q3 2019 to Q3 2020. That Q3 number was 23% under its original plan, but given that Frontdesk is trying to grow a travel-empowered service during a pandemic, a small miss isn’t that big of a deal. Per a rep, the startup had $1.26 million in revenue during September.
• Next Insurance: I’ve written a lot about the insurtech space this year because it’s been a rather busy sector. One company I have neglected to some degree is Next Insurance, which sells small business insurance. It’s worth $2 billion after a $250 million raise this September. Regardless, it has grown its gross written premium by 133% on a year-over-year basis. That’s the sort of growth that investors look for, especially from a startup that was already a unicorn.
• Eden Health: Eden Health does telemedicine. We’re in a pandemic in which people are stuck at home. So how well is the startup doing? Very, very well. Per the company, it’s now “roughly 7x larger in terms of ARR since February,” which is pretty bonkers. A representative told TechCrunch that it did not change its 2020 plan, and is 70% ahead of its own subscription revenue projections and 90% ahead of 2020 annualized revenue target. Forbes covered its $25 million Series B this August. And here’s a note from one of its investors about the company and it space, in case you wanted more.
• Legacy: One of a few fertility companies that reported big growth to TechCrunch, Legacy helps men test their own fertility and freeze sperm. It had a big Q3, with Legacy CEO Khaled Kteily telling TechCrunch that his company grew more than 70% during the quarter. He shared a partial annualized revenue chart with TechCrunch, showing several boosts in growth when COVID-19 hit in March, and another when “a study came out showing COVID might affect male fertility.” Kteily added that he kept his “amended estimates fairly conservative” for the year, but that Legacy is going to best them “pretty significantly.”
• Carrot Fertility: Fertility benefits for companies! It’s a great idea. And one that is apparently resonating in the market. Carrot did not share the precise data we wanted, but did note that it has “tripled growth since 2019” and has crossed the 100 customer threshold. Because we have Legacy in the mix, it felt fair to include more fertility startups. Carrot raised $24 million this August. TechCrunch covered the company back in 2017 when it was just a little thing.
• Stix: Completing our trifecta of fertility-related startups, Stix makes pregnancy and ovulation tests that are delivered to your house. Co-founder Jamie Norwood reached out to TechCrunch to share a few growth data points, including that Stix grew 77% growth from March to April after forecasting a more modest 20% figure. She added that “growth continued through Q2 and Q3,” helping Stix set a revenue record in September when her company saw “28% growth from August.” Half of Stix users want to get pregnant, she added, while the other half do not. So, Stix is doing a good job reaching both parts of its market. Stix recently raised a $1.3 million seed round that TechCrunch covered, so it appears that investors have taken notice of its growth.

Whew. That was a lot. Let’s get into this weekend.