Plant an App is raising capital at a $9 million valuation. Investors will receive a SAFE that converts subject to a 20% discount. This valuation, given the company’s recent traction does not appear unreasonable — but it’s toward the end of the pricey range. This has led us to rank the price of the business as middle-of-the-road on our five-point scale.

We have already demonstrated that the app business represents significant opportunities. But Plant an App does not run its own apps so much as it helps users to create their own. Their market is app development — with the low-code niche really describing the company’s core features. According to one source, this market was worth $11.45 billion in 2019. If growth averages the 22.7% per annum predicted, then by 2027 the market should reach $58.83 billion in size. However, another source provided a much more aggressive growth forecast. It believes that the opportunity last year was worth just $10.3 billion. But with a 31.1% annualized growth rate in store, it should climb to $202.5 billion by 2030. 

Although those sources provide a wide range in the total addressable market, they also reveal that the market is growing at a nice clip. This indicates that Plant an App is entering the market at a good time — and if its platform is successful, the company could capture a decent portion of this growing market. It is also encouraging that Plant an App’s business model is B2B, as that provides a much deeper pool of potential clients. Altogether, Plant an App’s market score is its strongest across all five metrics.

The Plant an App team is rather extensive, but at the summit stand a couple of key individuals. The first of these is its founder and CEO, Bogdan Litescu. Before founding Plant an App, Litescu founded and ran DNN Sharp. It — like Plant an App — was dedicated to creating an app-builder platform for users. Management claims that the project is now in maintenance mode and that all IP has been transferred over to Plant an App. Another company founded by Litescu was Open Traits. There, he and his team focused on creating an online community centered around product development. He has also worked as a Software Engineer at Marco Medical and BitDefender before his entrepreneurial endeavors.

The next key person at Plant an App is Alex Agapie. Agapie currently serves as the business’ COO. Before joining the startup, he served as an Agile Project Manager at DNN Sharp. He has also worked as a PMO CDS Project Manager for Electronic Arts. His job before that was as a QC Project Manager at Ubisoft. All of this work is technical in nature, allowing the COO to understand the technical sides of the business in a way that is uncommon (but good) for a COO.  The last individual, meanwhile, is Robert Dima, Plant an App’s CTO.  Not much is known about his prior experience except for the fact that from 2017 through today, he worked as a Technical Manager for DNN Sharp. Though Dima’s work record is lackluster, both Litescu and Agapie make up for that. 

Plant an App’s team shows an encouraging combination of strong entrepreneurial skills and technical expertise. Thus, its team score is high.

What really sets Plant an App apart from the competition is how the company is planning to service different players in its value chain. The complaint about Low-Code, generally speaking, is that it is almost like some sort of toy. It’s a basic plug-and-play coding system geared toward those least-knowledgeable about coding. Because of this, there is little in the way of sophistication for these types of platforms. Plant an App, meanwhile, claims to have organized itself to cater to four different classes of users. The least-sophisticated of these are what it calls its Business Users. These are typical individuals, often entrepreneurs, who have little to no knowledge of coding. Above them are Citizen Developers. These are individuals like business analysts and junior developers who have some degree of technical skill. Next in line are the Low-Code Engineers. These are individuals who work as database developers and architects. They also include front-end and back-end developers as well. And finally, we are left with Software Developers. These are your full-stack developers who can code competently from scratch. 

These groups are segmented on the platform based both on what they are allowed to do on it and on how the platform is engineered to interact with them. While a Business User might do nothing but engage in plug-and-play functionality, a Software Developer might get into the weeds and do extensive, original programming that will get integrated to the Low-Code functionality. This all appears to be a solid point of differentiation when you compare Plant an App to its competitors. However, the risk of competition is also worth noting. This model could be easily replicated by a more mature company, thus threatening Plant an App’s stake. The ease of replicability for Plant an App’s service lowers the company’s differentiators score to one of its weakest.

Gauging performance for Plant an App is a bit tricky. On the one hand, more than 4,000 customers come over to it from a company that was originally set up in 2006. This serves as a boon for the business. But if the majority of its paid users today are from that network then existing growth could be frontloaded. This could make its initial revenue expansion not representative of what it will be moving forward. Regardless of how this affects the firm, though, there’s no denying that performance so far this year is impressive. According to management, annual recurring revenue as of September of this year hit $269,510. Growth recently has been averaging 15% month-over-month. This is excellent considering the company did not launch until November of last year. In all, it has 36 paying customers, including the University of Idaho and Omnicell. 

No insight has been offered regarding the company’s bottom line, but it’s likely that the firm is still operating at a net loss. Last year — with nothing in the way of revenue — the company saw its net loss come in at $14,557. This matches the company’s operating cash flow for the year. Though this loss is small, it is important to keep in mind the fact that it accounts for just November and December last year. Annualized, this could be a far larger hit to the business.  Growth seen by Plant an App so far this year is encouraging, but it’s important to remember that some of this growth is based on a prior business that was around for over 10 years. 

The lack of revenue and the small number of paying customers combine to make performance Plant an App’s lowest score across all five metrics.

At this stage in time, there is not a lot to look at and dislike about Plant an App. Obviously, competition is always an issue, but management has done well to diversify their product. What will be difficult to know is just how many companies will be able and willing to afford their service. While it appears as though they have the potential to save customers money, many of these parties will be short-term users. This will likely translate to existing, professional app developers serving as the company’s core user. This likely client base raises an important question. Even though the app business is booming, do developers really want a service that will reduce the time and cost they allocate to a client’s project? In some ways, this transition may be forced onto the market, but until that happens, the end user might see this as shooting themselves in the foot. 

On the bullish side of the equation, we have a lot to talk about. Management has strong experience in this space. The company’s valuation appears reasonable for its traction. The industry — though small — is slated to grow rapidly for the foreseeable future. Plant an App clearly reduces time and costs associated with app development. In addition, its structure is a key differentiator relative to other platforms out there. These are all very encouraging characteristics for potential investors.

Based on all of the data provided, our team has rated Plant an App a Deal To Watch. This high-level distinction reflects our view of the risk/reward opportunity offered to investors. The business is not without its risks by any means, but the opportunities moving forward look attractive. With a rapidly-growing market, impressive traction, and a solid concept backed by an experienced management team, it’s difficult not to like what is being presented here. At the end of the day, Plant an App’s success will be determined by how well it convinces clients that its hefty price tag will save them the time and money they are looking to save. 

For questions regarding the KingsCrowd staff pick or ratings for this company, please reach out to support@kingscrowd.com. 

Analysis written by Daniel Jones.