Justin Wenig recalls his experience at Y Combinator back in 2019.
At that time, he was developing his first company, Coursedog, which aimed to bring updated solutions to colleges and universities, including those collaborating with state agencies. He quickly discovered that many of his fellow founders were reluctant to engage with the public sector due to its heavy bureaucracy.
Even obtaining simple details, such as what a school district had purchased over the previous year, involved significant paperwork.
“Out of the hundreds of startups, only a small number of us were focused on transforming government and education,” Wenig shared with TechCrunch. “Investors saw it as too slow, too bogged down by red tape, and too difficult to grow. Honestly, they had a point. Selling to government entities was a tough process.”
He sold Coursedog to JMI Equity for a nine-figure sum in 2021 and continues to serve on its board. In 2024, he introduced Starbridge, a platform designed to help business sales teams track public sector opportunities and take actions like submitting proposals or preparing bids for grants and funding. On Wednesday, Starbridge revealed it had secured $42 million in Series A funding, led by Craft Ventures, David Sacks’ firm.
According to Wenig, the biggest obstacle in the public sector is the lack of accessible, unified data.
“Vital purchasing data is dispersed across PDFs, government websites, meeting records, and old directories,” he explained, noting that vendors often spend hours trying to gather contacts and other key information.
Image Credits:Starbridge Starbridge collects data from these public online sources and consolidates it in a single location. Sales teams using the platform can view a prioritized list, generated by Starbridge, showing which public sector clients are most likely to invest in new technology, as well as receive updates on leadership changes or new projects.
“Rather than chasing irrelevant leads, our users get a clear, data-driven perspective on where to concentrate their efforts and when to move,” he said.
Wenig described raising funds as an enjoyable process and mentioned that the company connected with Craft through a mutual acquaintance. Other investors in the Series A round include Owl Ventures, CommonWeal Ventures, and Autotech Ventures. Including a previous $10 million seed round, the company has now raised a total of $52 million.
Looking ahead, the company intends to roll out the “Starbridge integrated experience,” allowing users to access its technology without always needing to visit the Starbridge platform directly.
“All competitors integrate directly with your CRM, every inquiry about an account can be answered instantly via a slackbot, and any job update is automatically reflected in your sequencer,” Wenig explained.
Other companies in this field include GovWin and GovSpend. Starbridge claims its advantage lies in building AI-powered workflows on top of its datasets, making the platform more user-friendly for sales teams.
He recalled his earlier fundraising efforts for Coursedog: “No venture capitalists wanted to meet with us,” he said. But now, with the rise of AI, he believes things are changing.
“Perhaps fewer people are interested in running for office these days, but many are eager to create,” he added. “Watching this new generation of purpose-driven founders address genuine, deep-rooted problems gives me a lot of optimism for what’s ahead.”
