Apphive

Apphive is recording $25,000 in monthly recurring revenue at this time, making for annual revenue of approximately $300,000. At a $3 million valuation cap, Apphive is reasonably priced for a software company. Software companies tend to be overvalued, and Apphive is in the early stages of development.

The global no-code market stood at $16 billion last year and is expected to grow at an annual rate of 28.8% through 2030. North America is the leading market region by size, but Apphive targets Latin America. I would estimate the Latin American market to be around $1 billion to $2 billion. So the Latin American market is very small, but if the growth rate matches that of the global market, it won’t be small for long.

Apphive is led by founder and CEO Jonatan Vazquez Piña. Jonatan has spent more than a decade in web services in Latin America. He and his three other team members have been working together for about seven years on various projects, including a website and app creation agency. He holds a master’s degree in technology management. 

The team is very small and all have similar backgrounds in web development. Having worked together for years, the group has plenty of experience as a team, but may have a limited network. A team of four, despite being very small, keeps costs down and is appropriate for a company at this stage. As Apphive scales, it will be crucial for Jonatan to bring on more diverse talent with complementary skill sets.

There is no shortage of no-code and low-code app builders on the market. FlutterFlow, Adalo, and Thunkable are just a few examples. All have pricing tiers similar to those of Apphive, with free options that have add-ons for anywhere from $30 to $250 per month. Apsy is another competitor that uses conversational artificial intelligence to build out apps. Apphive also indirectly competes with freelance developers.

It is hard to stand out in this market from either a quality or pricing standpoint. Apphive makes for a strong option with features that include GPS navigation, payment options, and push notifications. But many other alternatives also have these features and use AI to build apps conversationally. 

What helps Apphive to stand out is its focus on the Latin American market. Many of the competitors’ software is available globally, but may not target Latin America. Jonatan and his team know how to operate and market to the Latin American segment. For example, Apphive offers tutorials in both English and Spanish. The company may not become an overall market leader, but it can become a known entity in this geography.

Apphive is bringing in $25,000 in monthly recurring revenue from around 500 subscription customers. More than 5,700 applications have been created with the software. The team is working with some impressive clients, including Wendy’s in Honduras. The product is not particularly capital intensive, the team is lean, and most of the marketing is inbound. Jonatan reported 90% gross margins and a monthly burn rate of $6,000 to $7,000. With $40,000 in cash on hand, the team has around six months of runway. There is plenty of room for Apphive to scale. 

Though Apphive is a very early-stage opportunity that has not begun to generate meaningful revenue, it has stayed very lean and reports high margins. These margins are unlikely to dip significantly, even as revenue increases. 

Apphive is an early stage opportunity in a very crowded market. By targeting Latin America, the company cuts down its obtainable market to around $1 billion to $2 billion. The team is very small, and all members come from similar backgrounds. There are few ways that Apphive can meaningfully stand out from a price our quality perspective in the no-code app building space. Pricing and features are relatively standard across the industry. Introducing AI for conversational app building is a nice touch, but it has already been done in this market. 

Additionally, the no-code market has some inherent risks, including technology and data ownership complications. With Apphive, like many no-code solutions, the users cannot export their code and are restricted to Apphive’s environment. If the user stops paying, the app will still work, but a banner will be publicly displayed as an Apphive advertisement mentioning that the user has failed to pay fees.

By targeting Latin America, Apphive could carve out a meaningful segment of a very fragmented market. The no-code market may be small, especially in this geography, but it is growing exponentially. Business-to-business no-code solutions have a strong value proposition as labor costs soar. Hiring for technical roles is one of the largest costs that an early stage startup may face. I have no doubt that this market will explode in the coming years, and published growth rates support this prediction. Additionally, Apphive is reasonably priced at $3 million.

Apphive is a very young company dedicated to making app building simple, cheap, and accessible. At $3 million, the company is reasonably priced for bringing in $25,000 in monthly recurring revenue. 

The no-code software market is already very small. Apphive’s focus on Latin America sets it apart amongst a slew of competitors, but also limits its obtainable market. Expanding to the U.S. will increase market capture, but Apphive will also face several more established competitors. That said, the no-code software market is growing at an annual rate of almost 30% and the increasing cost of technical talent will only drive this market to become bigger. 

The Apphive team is lean, with just four full-time members who have very similar backgrounds. The small team has contributed to a very low burn rate of $6,000 to $7,000 per month. Overall, there is plenty of room for Apphive to scale, but for now it is just getting started. 

Report written by KingsCrowd Investment Research Manager Olivia Strobl on April 27, 2023.