Concept: US-based Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) startup Coherent has launched a no-code SaaS platform named Spark to make developing business software as fast, approachable, and cost-effective as working with Excel. It provides technology for insurance business logic and functionality. It aims to redefine how business and Information Technology teams (IT teams) collaborate on software development.
Nature of Disruption: Spark automatically converts any business logic in a spreadsheet – such as rules, formulas, and data models into an Application Programming Interface (API). The API can be connected to other front-end and back-end applications. Unlike the traditional software development cycle, the no-code service can be delivered in minutes. It can enhance the impact of existing investments in intellectual capital, technologies, and employee skills. This helps to free up IT teams to focus their expertise and limited resources on true business innovation. The platform helps coders and non-coders to ramp up digital transformation and cloud migration programs. It helps the business and IT teams to work collectively for developing software.
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Outlook: Microsoft Excel is the most widely used programming language and business application in the world, with over 750 million users. Around 59% of businesses employ over 1,000 spreadsheets to execute essential business activities. Yet, businesses have difficulty in auditing, managing, scaling, and effectively connecting spreadsheets to other business software. As a result, globally businesses spend around $430 billion on business-to-business software and services. Coherent’s Spark uses Microsoft Excel’s flexibility, functionality, and familiarity and adds API connectivity to applications, cloud scalability, automated testing, audit capability, and other enterprise-grade features, bringing the best of both environments to large organizations and one-person businesses. In April 2022, the startup raised $75 million in series B funding from Maverick Capital and other investors. It aims to utilize the investments by expanding its product, engineering, and sales teams in the US and Asia-Pacific, onboarding new services partners, and delivering out-of-the-box connections with leading enterprise and SaaS solutions.
This article was originally published in Verdict.co.uk
