Buffalo, New York, United States
Strayos is an enterprise software-as-a-service company founded in 2016 and headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, with a development team in Bangalore, India. The company applies artificial intelligence, computer vision, and drone technology to drilling and blasting workflows at mining, aggregate, and quarry sites, replacing manual laser-scanning processes with automated 3D terrain modeling and geotechnical analysis.
Ravi Sahu, the company's founder and CEO, launched Strayos in mid-2016 after more than twelve years working with Fortune 500 telecommunications companies including AT&T, Verizon, and British Telecom. The company shipped its first product version in July 2017 and entered 2018 with zero revenue, then signed 22 paying enterprise customers by November 2018 at an average contract value of roughly $100,000 per year, implying approximately $180,000 in monthly recurring revenue.
Strayos has raised $650,000 in a convertible note pre-seed round and was actively seeking a post-seed raise of $1,500,000 at a target pre-money valuation of $7 million to $8 million at the time of the interview. The company sells primarily through value-added resellers and distributors, paying a 20% commission on new contracts and a 5% renewal commission, making its effective customer acquisition cost approximately $20,000 on a $100,000 account.