Starbridge raises $42M Series A to make it easy for any business to sell to government & education

Today, I’m excited to announce our $42M Series A led by Craft Ventures.

Why We’re Building Starbridge 

Let’s rewind to 2019.

I had just entered Y Combinator with my first startup, Coursedog, building tools to modernize higher-education operations.

There were only 4 other companies in my cohort of 200 that were building solutions to help the public sector. The other 195 were probably doing the smarter thing: avoiding the bureaucracy of dealing with public sector sales. 

My observation was that at the root of why companies avoided working with the public sector was a broken infrastructure for supporting public-private partnerships. 

Want to know what a school district actually purchased last year? You'd need to hire an entire outsourced team to file thousands of Freedom of Information Act requests. Looking for the right contact at a government agency? Good luck, that information is shockingly hard to find. Trying to figure out the optimal contract vehicle, whether through resellers or cooperatives? It's a nightmare.

The consequences are bigger than just hard sales cycles. It means the most innovative companies never prioritize the public sector. It means entrepreneurs are discouraged before they even start. 

And ultimately, it means taxpayers pay more for less. 

Unlocking Public Sector Sales for Every Business 

Starbridge’s AI-powered GTM intelligence platform enables public sector sales teams to monitor hundreds of thousands of government agencies & schools in real time for bids, meeting discussions, contract expirations, grants, budgets, procurement rules and contact data. 

Starbridge is already being used by 160+ enterprise public sector sales teams, including Instructure, SimpliGov, and Clever, to identify public sector opportunities well in advance of an RFP.

Type in plain English: "Show me cities struggling with street cleanliness.” 

Starbridge instantly surfaces the municipalities facing that challenge right now. What once took hours of manual research by an account executive now happens in seconds.

From there, insight turns into action. Starbridge identifies the official responsible for street maintenance, drafts a personalized email that speaks to their exact situation, and syncs it directly to your CRM. 

As one Account Executive put it: “Starbridge gives me real intelligence on what agencies are struggling with. I’m able to approach outbound prospecting with greater strategy, authenticity, and thoughtful insights, tailoring each message to what actually matters to the prospect. It's 4x’ed our response rate.”

What’s Next 

The $42M Series A accelerates our ability to build, hire, and deepen our impact on businesses selling to the public sector. 

It’s also a testament to the belief our customers and investors have in Starbridge’s mission: to catalyze a new era of public-private partnerships that change the world for the better.

If you’re navigating the challenges of selling to the public sector, let’s talk. Book a conversation and walk away with at least one actionable insight for your sales team.

If you’re passionate about solving hard problems and building tools that drive real-world impact, we’d love for you to join us. Check out our careers page to explore open roles.

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