Boarding PassHossted looks to solve the challenge of open source maintenance and support
Boarding Pass
Hossted looks to solve the challenge of open source maintenance and support
The Israeli startup has bootstrapped its first million dollars for its OSS-OPS platform
“The need for Hossted arises from the challenges faced by organizations in adopting and maintaining open source applications,” explained the company’s co-founder Elroi Marom. “Despite the benefits of open source software such as flexibility, innovation, and cost savings, organizations often struggle with the lack of comprehensive maintenance and support options. This burden falls on the operations teams who must learn how to maintain and where to seek knowledge when issues arise.”
This problem inspired Marom and co-founder Lior Kesos to develop an OSS-OPS platform that they say would revolutionize open source maintenance and support. Hossted simplifies deployment, maintenance, and support for open source technologies across multiple clouds. So far, the company is completely bootstrapped and together the pair has invested a total of $1 million to build its product.
Hossted has been selected for Intel Ignite's Tel Aviv cohort, chosen from more than 200 applicants, and offering resources and mentorship to the company. You can learn more about the team and their story below.
Company Name: Hossted
Sector: OSS-OPS
Product/Service description:
Hossted is an OSS-OPS platform that specializes in open source application maintenance and support. It assists organizations in optimizing their utilization of community editions of open-source software across on-premises and cloud environments, leading to improved business continuity and cost efficiency.
With its unified dashboard, Hossted simplifies deployment, maintenance, and expert support for open source technologies across multiple clouds. IT, R&D, and OPS managers can effectively handle security patches, access logs, and implement a centralized login system through its comprehensive monitoring capabilities.
The platform ensures guaranteed support with service level agreements (SLAs) for both local and cloud environments. By collaborating with creators and experts from open source communities, Hossted provides reliable assistance to organizations encountering challenges and issues with their open-source applications. Additionally, it offers a valuable opportunity for experts to contribute to the open-source ecosystem.
Founder Bios:
Founders Elroi Marom and Lior Kesos are experienced entrepreneurs in the open source domain for enterprises. They have a proven track record of successfully creating open source projects and possess comprehensive knowledge of the various facets of the open source community and enterprise, including vendors, creators, maintainers, integrators, and supporters.
Year of Founding: 2022
Last Investment Round: $1 million (by the founders)
Last Investment Stage: Pre-Seed
Date of Last Investment: December 2022
Total investment to date: $1 million (by the founders)
Investors: Bootstrapped
Current number of employees: 7
Open positions: N/A
Website:
https://hossted.com
How was the idea born?
The founders of Hossted bring extensive experience in the open source arena, having served as creators of successful open source projects, maintainers, contributors, integrators, and users. Their firsthand involvement exposed them to the challenges teams faced when adopting community editions and maintaining open source applications. Despite the benefits offered by open source software, they observed a significant gap in comprehensive maintenance and support options. Organizations struggled to ensure smooth operation, address potential problems, and optimize their software infrastructures, often leading them to consider upgrading to licensed versions for better support. Motivated by this realization, the founders were inspired to develop an innovative OSS-OPS platform that would revolutionize open source maintenance and support. Their deep understanding of the industry and firsthand experiences drove them to create Hossted, a dedicated platform aimed at bridging the gap and empowering organizations to maximize the benefits of open source software while receiving comprehensive maintenance and support services.
What is the need for the product?
The need for Hossted arises from the challenges faced by organizations in adopting and maintaining open source applications. Despite the benefits of open source software such as flexibility, innovation, and cost savings, organizations often struggle with the lack of comprehensive maintenance and support options. This burden falls on the operations teams who must learn how to maintain and where to seek knowledge when issues arise. Consequently, ensuring smooth operation, addressing potential problems, and optimizing software infrastructures becomes challenging. Hossted bridges this gap by providing a dedicated platform that offers comprehensive maintenance and support services for open source applications. By leveraging Hossted, organizations can streamline their operations, effectively address challenges, and optimize their software infrastructure for improved performance.
How is it changing the market?
Hossted is revolutionizing open source maintenance and support with its innovative OSS-OPS platform. By combining data analysis, insights, and guaranteed application support for on-prem and cloud environments, Hossted transforms how organizations adopt open source. It provides comprehensive maintenance options ensuring smooth operation. With SLA-backed application support, Hossted collaborates with experts from various communities, empowering them to actively contribute their knowledge and earn profits. The platform seamlessly caters to on-premises and cloud environments, enabling organizations to leverage cloud benefits while maintaining control. Hossted maximizes open source potential, enhances business continuity, and reduces costs, making a significant market impact.
How big is the market for the product and who are its main customers?
The open source services market, in which Hossted operates, is poised for significant growth, projected to reach $67 billion by 2026, with a CAGR of 22% during the forecast period. This growth is driven by the widespread adoption of open source software across industries such as IT, healthcare, education, retail, and manufacturing. The market is fueled by the increasing demand for managed services and professional services, particularly in improving customer experiences and outsourcing IT functions. The market is segmented based on services, organization size, verticals, and regions, including professional services (consulting, implementation, and support and maintenance), managed services, large enterprises, SMEs, and diverse industry verticals. As organizations increasingly recognize the value of open source software and seek professional services to optimize its implementation and management, the global open source services market is poised for substantial expansion.
Does the product exist already? If not - at what stage is it and when is it expected to hit the market?
Hossted has successfully launched its beta version in the market and has received positive feedback from users. Building on this momentum, we are diligently working on developing advanced versions of our platform to further enhance our offerings and provide even greater value to our customers.
Who are the main competitors in this sector and how big are they?
There are different approaches and categories of users when it comes to open-source software deployment. The first category comprises the "build-your-own" IT professionals who download open-source applications and install them within their organization's computing environment. While this approach offers freedom and perceived cost savings, it can be time-consuming and challenging, requiring expertise and ongoing maintenance. Some organizations prefer to seek support from third-party providers to ensure continuity, support, and decentralization of knowledge, viewing the low cost of the build-your-own approach as less significant.
Another category is managed application service providers, who handle the ongoing management, deployment, maintenance, and support of dedicated deployments for specific customers. This approach may pose information control concerns for organizations and often comes with a premium price and potential exit barriers.
Open-source project software vendors offer premium solutions with non-open-source components or enterprise support focused on large customers. However, these options may come with high prices that are not accessible or economically viable for all users.
What added value do the founders bring to the company and the product?
Founders Elroi Marom and Lior Kesos bring valuable expertise and experience to the company. With a strong background in the open-source domain, they have a deep understanding of open-source technologies as creators, contributors, and maintainers. They have a decade of experience working together and have successfully established Linnovate, a software company specializing in open-source technologies. Their skills in business management, reselling, and integration make them well-equipped to deliver effective open-source solutions and services to leading enterprises.
What will the money coming in from the round be used for?
Approximately 40% of the funds are dedicated to Research and Development (R&D), allowing us to invest in innovation, product enhancements, and the development of cutting-edge technologies. Another significant portion, around 35%, is allocated to Marketing and Sales (M&S) activities. This enables us to establish a robust marketing and sales team, enhance brand awareness, expand our customer base, and drive revenue growth.
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