Brief - The Hustle

Tresata, a startup that does a little of everything, raised $50m at a $1B valuation

Written by Conor Grant | Sep 23, 2020 1:57:41 AM

Tresata, which calls itself a “customer intelligence” company, raised $50m at a valuation of more than $1B.

The Charlotte, NC-based company proves unicorns can pop up in many different places — and with many different types of elevator pitches.

From bootstrapped to unicorn real fast

This $50m funding round marks the first time that Tresata has accepted outside money in its 7-year history, making its sudden billion-dollar valuation all the more impressive.

According to Tresata co-founder and CEO Abhishek Mehta, revenue is the cheapest type of capital — so that’s what he has chosen to focus on. But in GCP Capital Partners he claims to have finally found a worthy investor.

All of Tresata’s numbers sound great, but the company website leaves visitors with one big question: What does Tresata actually do?

The best tech marketing jargon in the game

According to Tresata’s website, the company’s goals are “giving customers what they want, keeping them safe, protecting what’s priceless and enriching their lives.”

If Tresata’s mind-numbingly ambiguous mission statement makes it seem like the company doesn’t really have any products: Well, that’s about right.

Tresata adapts its software to help clients tackle problems ranging from money-laundering prevention, to population health management, to marketing — making Tresata more of a consultancy than a software-seller.

But hey, Tresata’s buzzwords didn’t stop it hitting a $1B valuation — so who’s to criticize?