Inside Tropic: From 2019 to Now Into a $146 million business
Founders: David Campbell, J.P. Laval, Neal O’Mara
Founded Year: 2019
Investors: Canaan, Insight Partners, Renegade Partners
Funding Raised: $146 million
What Is the business model of Tropic?
SaaS platform for procurement that helps companies manage and negotiate their software vendor contracts; uses data insights and expert buyers to save clients money on SaaS purchases, charging a fee or taking a cut of savings
How Tropic got started?
Founded in 2019 after Campbell had managed SaaS buying at Segment, Tropic was created to give mid-market companies their own procurement department as a service—the platform centralizes spend data and Tropic’s team assists in negotiations with software vendors
what growth strategy has Tropic followed?
Gained traction by marketing significant cost savings on software purchases without the customer having to hire full-time buyers, combined an easy-to-use spend management tool with white-glove negotiators, which resonated especially in the tech sector trying to optimize expenses during economic tightening
what are the top products/features of Tropic
Tropic procurement platform, analytics dashboard for SaaS spend, on-demand procurement expert service
what was the biggest challenge faced by Tropic?
Convincing companies to outsource part of their procurement and share sensitive pricing data, and differentiating from both internal procurement teams and other software spending management tools in a crowded B2B fintech environment