The sparkling water market was estimated to be in excess of $33B globally in 2021 according to Grand View Research. As consumers continue to become more health-conscious and shy away from carbonated soft drinks that contain sugars, preservatives, sweeteners, and carbohydrates, the industry is poised to grow in excess of 12% per year. Asian Americans represent the fastest-growing consumer segment in the US and represent $1.2T in buying power. Sitting at the intersection of these two trends is Sanzo, a canned sparkling water brand offering Asian-inspired flavors. Available direct online, through grocery marketplaces, and in thousands of physical locations including Whole Foods, Panda Express, and Target, the brand offers dynamic flavors that cater to specific regions of Asia like Lychee (SE Asia), Alphonso Mango (India). Yuzu Ginger (Japan), and Calamansi Lime (Philippines), appealing to often-overlooked palates when it comes to consumer goods. Despite the pandemic, lockdowns, and uncertainty, the company grew 5x both in 2020 and 2021. AlleyWatch caught up with Sanzo CEO and Founder Sandro Roco to learn more about his experience launching and scaling the business, the company's strategic plans, latest round of funding, which brings the total funding raised to $11.3M, and much, much more...

Financial institutions are increasingly using automated models to accelerate credit decisions leveraging AI/ML. In order to build the next-generation models to handle these tasks, organizations must design systems that are reflective of the dynamics of a modern economy (prevalence of gig/flexible workers) and have the appropriate supporting data to assess. Argyle is an employment data platform that provides companies with real-time access to employment data that can be used in decisioning. All the data on the platform is user-permissioned, protecting the personal information of the applicant. In terms of employment, decisioning models have far too long stringently relied only on traditional W2 income for assessing worthiness, limiting access to the financial system for otherwise qualified potential borrowers. With Argyle, banking, lending, loan servicing, and insurance companies can get verified, real-time income data straight from the source. In addition to income and employment verification, the company also offers paycheck-linked lending, where loans are repaid directly from paycheck proceeds. The platform contains data and is integrated with 75% of the US workforce, covering 75M employees across 500K employers. AlleyWatch caught up with Argyle Founder and CEO Shmulik Fishman to learn more about how his experience in adtech served as the inspiration for the business, the company's strategic plans, latest round of funding, which brings the total funding raised to $77.6M, and much, much more...

According to IBM’s Data Breach Report 2021, the average cost of a data breach is $4.24M. As businesses become more reliant on remote work and as employees use more devices (the average employee now uses 2.3 devices), the potential liability increases each day. Axonius’ cybersecurity asset management platform gives enterprises a full inventory of their assets and ensures that these devices are properly being secured across all locations. The platform takes a holistic approach by integrating into existing cybersecurity tools and workflows and ensuring that all devices being used (whether physical or virtual) are compliant with the company’s security protocols. Axonius has also launched a specialized SaaS Management product that addresses the added risk companies face from the use of various modern software applications that are increasingly becoming a part of the enterprise tech stack. Companies like The New York Times, MindBody, Schneider Electric, and AB InBev are all customers and revenue grew 132% YOY in 2021. AlleyWatch caught up with Axonius CEO and Cofounder Dean Sysman to learn more about how the company is solving the fragmentation of IT that leads to security vulnerabilities, the company's strategic plans, latest round of funding, which brings the total funding raised to $395M, and much, much more...

Intelligent document processing incorporates automation to capture, extract, and process data from various formats including, forms, images, PDFs, and ZIPs. By leveraging API-based technology, businesses are able to free up human capital to focus on higher-value tasks by automating the multitude of documents they need to handle on a daily basis. Base64.ai has built a sophisticated OCR document processing automation platform that can handle 700+ document types off the shelf with the ability to adapt to continuously improve and expand its capabilities through AI. By coupling AI with OCR, the platform is able not only exponentially improve data extraction accuracy vs just using OCR alone but also accommodate more types of documents. Base64.ai is flexible in its implementation with a cloud-based solution, on-premise, and can even be incorporated to power enterprise RPA platforms. With data, both unstructured and structured, powering the future of the enterprise and business, the intelligent data processing market is forecasted to demonstrate a 34.6% CAGR through 2027. AlleyWatch caught up with Base64.ai Head of Marketing Andy Karuza to learn more about how the experience of onboarding Uber drivers served as the catalyst for the company, the company's strategic plans, and latest round of funding from investors that include Long Journey Ventures and Data Community Fund.

Knowing your customer is the golden rule of sales. Online transactions provide an unprecedented opportunity to truly understand customer behavior and purchase intent at scale. E-commerce retailers that are not utilizing data-driven insights in their operations operate at a significant disadvantage to their data-savvy competitors. Swiftline is a one-stop platform that seamlessly brings data science to e-commerce sellers. Data science and the insights it yields can be applied holistically to optimize the entire customer journey, handling things like inventory, pricing, warranty, market basket analysis, recommendation, upselling, sentiment through reviews, churn, lifetime value, and more. Optimizing these levers can mean the difference for establishing a flourishing and significantly profitable business for merchants. The company also provides non-dilutive financing solutions for expansion through Yardline. AlleyWatch caught up withSwiftline CEO Ari Horowitz to learn more about the inspiration for the business, the company's strategic plans, and latest round of funding from investors that include Raptor Group, Cloverhill Ventures, Atalaya Capital Management LP, The Benvolio Group, Corner Capital Management, Thrasio, Evolution VC Partners, Gaingels, and Ulysses Ventures.

The uncertainty of the pandemic led to exploding demand for estate planning and much of this demand was serviced through technology for the first time. This digital transformation allowed individuals to execute and revise wills and estate plans quickly. The newfound attention for this planning also served as a boon for charitable giving. FreeWill is a comprehensive online estate planning platform that gives people the ability to update or write their will in 20 minutes directly from their computers and all for free. The platform provides living wills with beneficiary designation as well as power of attorney, and in California, living trusts are offered as well. How is this free? The company partners with 600+ non-profits and during the process of establishing wills, users are given the option to provide small gifts (bequests, charitable distributions, and stock gifts) to these non-profits. Since launching in 2016, the company has executed over 420K wills and provided commitments exceeding $4.7B to non-profits. AlleyWatch caught up with FreeWill Co-CEO and Founder Jenny Xia Spradling to learn more about the public benefit corporation that sits at the intersection of philanthropy and utility, the company's strategic plans, and latest round of funding from investors that include Bain Capital Double Impact, ICONIQ Growth, QED Investors, Ulu, Highland, Pear, and HearstLab.

The entire pet food market is growing rapidly and is expected to exceed $136B by 2028 from current ~$100B levels. While much attention has been paid to providing dogs with human-grade food recently with a number of new entrants seeking to disrupt the market, the feline food market has been largely overlooked. The cat food market is more consolidated with a few key players with large market shares and little incentive for innovation or change. Made by Nacho, cofounded by celebrity chef Bobby Flay, is a chef-approved cat food brand launched last spring. The company features a wide assortment of both dry food and wet food; all recipes contain ethically sourced and sustainable proteins. Made by Nacho is available through partnerships with pet retailers as well as online through the company’s website and Amazon. A 2-lb bag of dry food retails at $13.99 with a 10-pack of wet cups running $17.89. AlleyWatch caught up with Made by Nacho CEO Tessa Gould to learn more about the inspiration for the business, the company's strategic plans, and latest round of funding from investors that include CAVU Venture Partners, New Fare Partners, and Mars’ Companion Fund.