Starian, a developer of vertical SaaS ecosystems, completed its first year of operation in June, with an expectation of exceeding R$750 million in net revenue and projecting organic growth of 30% compared to the end of 2025. Part of this growth should come from purchases: the company seeks to purchase R$100 million in recurring revenue in the next semester.
“We are purchasing small satellite companies and working to bring in strong assets. It is an opportune moment in the market: it is difficult to grow in vertical SaaS in Brazil and there are many companies that are 20 or 30 years old, super niche, that may have difficulty adapting to AI”, says Alex Anton, Chief Strategy Officer at Starian.
In this chair, Anton is responsible for looking at the market and understanding what is happening in the world of software and looking inward to look for new business fronts, in addition to integrating acquired companies, as happened with Contato Seguro, purchased in December last year.
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With 1,500 professionals, the company is experiencing an emblematic moment. “We are in a race. Until last year, our focus was on inorganic and organic growth. Now, our ‘core’ is at risk with the proliferation of AI. But we are in a movement of growth and ‘servitization’: transforming our software into a service”, says Anton.
One of the challenges for the company to continue growing is pricing: today, software is sold per seat. In more daring companies, however, there is already a hybrid model, where they charge for delivering value. “These models put a level of pressure. It’s a super dynamic world”, he says.
The company has a centralized research and development (R&D) core and focuses on technological evolution as a continuous process of incorporating innovation into customers’ critical workflows, rather than isolated disruptions.
Vertical growth
Starian currently operates across four verticals: construction industry, legal intelligence, operational efficiency and governance and compliance. The plan is to open new fronts next year, with the acquisition strategy expected to become even more aggressive.
“We really like the verticals that already communicate with our systems, such as ERP for construction material companies or real estate management, for example. But we also look at new sectors such as agribusiness, which has room for technology adoption, in addition to food retail, which is counter-cyclical”, he states.
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The company
Although it has only been around for a short time, Starian was already a giant: from a spin-off of Sofplan, a software company from Santa Catarina. In the separation, the ‘parent company’ retained public sector clients while the new company has 100% private sector clients.
“Starian was born with scale, leadership in its verticals and a robust portfolio of critical solutions for its customers”, says Ionan Fernandes, CEO of Starian. In two months of operation, the company raised R$640 million from General Atlantic to strengthen its capital structure and accelerate its expansion.
