ALTIOTAKE FROM 22-26 FEBRUARY
Each week, we review the press, highlighting and responding to interesting and relevant articles in the news.
Does this software spark joy?
Accelerated by the pandemic, companies are increasingly purchasing and collecting more and more SaaS products to connect their teams, automate workflows, and perform core tasks. We’ve adopted and acquired subscriptions to so many SaaS products, we can lose track of them in the broad SaaS sprawl. To combat this, a market for software asset management (SAM) emerged, aiding in cutting down on costs, reviewing shelfware, and freeing up workforce time and labour. Last week, a software asset management startup Torii announced a $10M Series A investment led by Wing Venture Capital last week. Torii’s platform tracks, maps, and optimises spend on SaaS products. Think of Torii as the Marie Kondo of SAM. Altio thinks that software asset management platforms like Torii will not only simplify engagements with SaaS products, but will also encourage future SaaS purchases and scalability as product sprawl becomes less daunting and more manageable.
Changing the Sound of Music
During its Stream On event this week, Spotify unveiled a new high-end service, Spotify HiFi, to provide “CD-quality, lossless audio format.” As the hub of “super users” who listen 2-3x more than Apple or Amazon users, Spotify’s high-definition option is a smart move to invest in and retain its active user base. It’s better late than never, though, as Spotify joins high-definition competitors like Amazon Music HD (released back in 2019), TIDAL, Qobuz, and Deezer. However, now this puts Apple Music behind with no high-definition audio option, though this will likely change soon as Apple tries to catch up. As more platforms adopt high quality audio streaming, it will soon become the industry standard, no longer a competitive edge for select platforms dedicated to high-definition audio.
Lost in the Maze
Product people listen up: Maze is here to revolutionise your product testing and rollout. This week, Maze closed a $15M Series A funding led by Emergence Capital. Maze’s platform allows you to test products and concepts at any stage in the development process, even without a fully-fledged design, compatible with leading workflows like Figma, Adobe XD, InVision, and Sketch. After sharing a test link URL with users, companies can then access fast and sophisticated results, including heatmaps of user activity. In 2020, Maze saw a 600% boost in its recurring revenue, boasting 40k users including the likes of IBM, GE, Vodafone, and Uber. Maze’s mission is to democratise testing for everyone, making it a rapid and reliable process. Altio sees this as a mission that fosters innovation and breaks down testing hurdles.