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- Startup Sphere Weekly #18
Startup Sphere Weekly #18
An AI photography studio making $3 million/year. Plus, a pharmaceuticals pricing software selling for $1 million.
Vlad Verba
April 25, 2024 • Estimated Reading Time: 6 minutes
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Now, let’s get into this week’s listings ⤵️
AI photography studio SaaS
Asking Price: $7.5 million
TTM Revenue: $3 million
TTM Profit: $2.1 million
The business for sale is an AI photo generation SaaS, specifically centered around professional headshots.
This is a big trend that I saw with the rise of AI image generation, so it’s interesting to see these businesses now popping up for sale.
The general idea is that users can upload a couple of pictures of themselves, and the software can generate a professional, realistic image of the user in different scenarios, poses, and backgrounds.
The business is mainly used by consumers looking for a new LinkedIn profile picture, press release companies, dating profiles, etc. The business is largely B2C, but I can see an opportunity to expand into the B2B segment. Companies like real estate groups and PR firms can benefit from using a technology like this.
The listing mentions that there was a TikTok that went viral, driving a lot of sign-ups and revenue. In my opinion, the novelty of something like this has likely worn off by now. However, there is still an extremely large user base that you are able to monetize.
The business did $76,000 in revenue last month, with $46,000 in profit. I assume most of the business spending goes towards the AI models. Although I am sure the business is running some paid ads.
Competitors include companies like Aragon.ai and HeadshotPro.
Pharmaceuticals pricing & analytics software
Asking Price: $1.05 million
TTM Revenue: $296,000
TTM Profit: $227,000
This business is an analytics tool used for tracking, comparing and analyzing the price of pharmaceutical products.
This is not a niche that I’ve heard often about, or even knew it existed. While it is extremely interesting, I don’t believe this is an industry I would want to get into. The competition in the pharmecitucal business is extremely high, with some already well established players owning most of the market share.
Something else that concerns me about the business, is the fluxuation in revenue from month to month. Some months the business makes as much as $53,000 and then drops down to $5,000 soon after. I’m not sure if there is some sort of seasonality to this business, but it’s something worth asking about.
Improved remote control app for Roku users
Asking Price: $700,000
TTM Revenue: $348,000
TTM Profit: $336,000
This is honestly an idea I’ve thought about myself, so it was interesting seeing a validated version of the product already listed for sale.
The business is an improved remote control mobile app for Roku devices.
I have a Roku, and very often lose my physical remote somewhere in the couch. However, Roku has a very convenient mobile app that can function as a remote for your TV. This business aims to improve that experience, and give Roku users a better remote control for their TV.
The business gets most of its customers organically, through optimizing their app store listing (ASO). I imagine this works well because there aren’t many competitors in the space.
That also means that your main competitor, is Roku themselves. This makes it a bit difficult to actually grow a meaningful business, since platform risk is very real. However, I think this business has done a good job of growing and clearly there is a large demand for an improved Roku remote experience. So who knows, maybe Roku can buy this business out.
Cast your vote
Which business in this week's edition would you acquire?Cast your vote below and tell us why: |
Last week’s poll:
Results:
🥇 [50%]: 🛍 Shopify upsell app
🥈 [33%]: 🎵 AI Spotify playlist generator
🥉 [16%]: 🐕 Pet care services marketplace
Subscriber feedback:
“I expect e-commerce to continue to grow and as competition grows, business owners will need to squeeze more revenue out of each transaction. So, a tool that enables better upsells can significantly increase the AOV, making each customer more valuable.“
That’s all for this week. If you want to support the newsletter, subscribe to today’s sponsor, Prompts Daily. Till next week 👋