Proov III

One of the biggest challenges large enterprises face is finding new, innovative software solutions to make their businesses better. On the other side of the table, one of the biggest challenges business-to-business (“B2B”) software companies face—and in particular software startups—is finding a way to prove to potential enterprise customers and investors the value of their products.

Enterprises and software vendors use pilots, or proofs-of-concept (“POCs”), as small experimental trials to test a product and to measure how its large-scale deployment might affect the enterprise. These pilots are the gating factor in an enterprise’s decision to become a customer or reseller and are a critical milestone for startups to validate their solution in the eyes of both enterprise customers and investors.

ProoV is a SaaS platform that dramatically streamlines this pilot process.

It's developed the first online marketplace for software vendors and enterprise customers to discover each other and then run seamless, secure Proof of Concepts (PoC).

This changes the way tech start-ups acquire customers and enterprises discover new innovations. Proov makes it fast and easy for tech start-ups to run a pilot, evaluate proof of concept and gain traction with major customers in modern Cloud IT and Container-As-Service world.

Gartner Research Group has called Proov “The most disruptive solution that the world of PoC has ever experienced."

Its solution facilitates faster market penetration for B2B software companies and enables enterprises to stay at the forefront of the innovation curve.

Here are four reasons why you should take a look:

1. Addressing pain points on both sides of the marketplace.

One of the most significant challenges facing large enterprises is finding new and innovative software solutions to improve their businesses.

At the same time, one of the biggest challenges business-to-business (“B2B”) software companies face—and in particular software startups—is finding a way to demonstrate their value to potential enterprise customers.

Large companies use a Proof-of-Concept (“PoC”) demonstration as a way of trying out a software product and measuring the effect it might have on their operations. These PoCs are the gating factor in an enterprise’s decision to become a customer or reseller and are a critical milestone for startups to validate their solution in the eyes of both enterprise customers and investors.

However, the current model for enterprise software sales is broken. For enterprises, sifting through the noise of the many software companies interested in running PoCs, and then doing one-off integrations with each new prospective vendor, is a costly and time consuming distraction from the day-to-day operations of the business.

For software companies, identifying which enterprises to target is a major pain point---not to mention the difficulty in getting their attention, navigating the corporate bureaucracy and successfully executing the PoC.

ProoV has developed the first online marketplace for software vendors and enterprise customers to discover each other and run a limitless number of seamless, secure PoCs.

2. One stop shop for secure PoCs, representing a large potential market.

ProoV enables any B2B software startup around the world to search for the ideal enterprise PoC partners by filtering according to enterprise size, sector and stated software needs.

Proov provides these companies a far more cost effective go-to-market strategy than traditional methods of enterprise sales, while simultaneously providing major multinational corporations a more cost effective strategy for discovering much-needed solutions for their business needs.

Major corporations such as Schneider Electric, AIG, GE, NTT and Comcast are already on Proov’s platform. In addition to discovery, ProoV also facilitates the implementation of pilots by providing enterprises with simple tools for integrating their data with dedicated, secure servers in the cloud and translating the pilots into actionable insights with a helpful analytics dashboard.

3. Impressive progress on multiple fronts.

Since early 2016, the company has onboarded 44 enterprises and 290 software vendors, accounting for 91 active PoCs on the platform.

Customers have responded enthusiastically to Proov’s platform, with the Chief Data Officer of a major Israeli financial institution saying: “We found it hard to believe that a solution like ProoV could actually work for us. After starting with one pilot and a lot of hesitation, we quickly learned that not only does it work, but it is also very simple. Today we have 29 pilots running in parallel.”

ProoV has also filed an additional patent and the platform has been revamped to include improved analytics (now tracking 180 metrics), enhanced security, predictive PoC modeling, and better discovery tools for vendors and enterprises to find each other.

Moreover, the company now offers integration with 26 cloud services including, Docker, Big Query, Thrift, RDC, SSH, and RedShift, improving interfacing between users and the platform.

Lastly, the solution is now also capable of automatically creating mockup data, and simulated applications, for companies who are sensitive about sharing their actual data and the workings of their systems respectively.

The company has been featured in media outlets like Entrepreneur, The Huffington Post and Forbes.

4. Strong investors and management team.

This investment round is being led by Mangrove Capital Partners, whose early investments include Skype (acquired by Microsoft for $8.5B) and Wix ($800M market cap).

ProoV is led by Toby Olshanetsky and Alexey Sapozhnikov, serial entrepreneurs who, between them, are responsible for five successful exits. ProoV was born out of a problem the founders knew well after going through numerous proof of concept projects with each of their previous companies. The team has deep experience in IT security and enterprise software.

Team Background

Alexey Sapozhnikov - Co-Founder & CTO

Alexey is a serial entrepreneur, having founded Uppspace (acquired by Forthscale), HighTechForMe (acquired by several customers), and Scalabillit.

He's also the former R&D Director for SAP Labs.

He earned his BA in Statistics from University of Haifa, and he holds several patents.

Toby Olshanetsky - Co-Founder & CEO

Toby has 18 years of entrepreneurial and senior management experience as a CEO and board member.

He has a diverse technology background in Cyber & IT Security, Social Networks, Mobile, SaaS and E-Commerce & Online Banking.

He's the former Co-Founder & Board Member of Rocket Finance.

He earned his degree in Electronic Engineering from Tel Aviv University.

Co-Investors

Mangrove Capital Partners

Top-tier venture capital firm whose investments include Skype (acquired by Microsoft for $8.5 billion) and Wix ($800 million market cap).

OurCrowd.com

A hybrid of a venture capital firm and a global crowd investing platform for accredited investors, OurCrowd sources deals, performs due diligence, and opens investments to its members, leading every investment with its own money. OurCrowd and its investor community have invested more than $200 million into 90+ companies including ReWalk (which IPO'd), Borro, and BIScience.