Business applications are how companies and organizations generate value from IT. They also provide solution providers and MSPs with the tools to more efficiently run their business. As part of CRN’s Stellar Startups for 2026, here are six business application startups, founded in 2020 or later, that solution providers should be aware of.
Business applications are how work gets done within businesses and organizations—including solution providers and MSPs. Whether they are personal productivity applications for employees or enterprise software that businesses and organizations count on to run their core operations, business applications—sales, marketing, billing, financial planning, help desk operations, and so on—are how the value of all those underlying IT systems is realized.
Business applications are also important because they are a vehicle for automating business processes, helping organizations be more efficient, more productive and more innovative.
Software giants like SAP, Microsoft, Salesforce and Intuit account for a significant share of the business applications market. But startup companies are often on the leading edge of innovation in developing applications that meet businesses’ rapidly changing needs. Such business applications developed by startups present a major opportunity for solution providers and strategic service providers.
As part of CRN’s Stellar Startups for 2026, here are six business application startups, founded in 2020 or later, that solution providers should get to know. The following slides include lightly edited company and product descriptions provided by the startups.
Drata
Founded: 2020
Headquarters: San Francisco, Calif.
Top Executive: Adam Markowitz, Co-Founder and CEO
Drata provides the trust network that enables businesses to operate, scale, and partner with confidence. Powered by AI and designed to operationalize trust, the Drata Agentic Trust Management Platform continuously interprets controls, risk, and assurance signals, enabling always-on audit readiness across compliance frameworks and accelerating security reviews.
The Drata Agentic Trust Management Platform helps organizations earn and maintain trust through automated governance, multi-framework continuous compliance, integrated internal and third-party risk management, trust center assurance, AI-powered questionnaire assistance, and AI agent governance. It serves security, GRC, compliance, procurement, and assurance leaders at growth-stage and enterprise companies.
Website: drata.com
Gradient MSP
Founded: 2020
Headquarters: Calgary, Alberta
Top Executive: Colin Knox, Co-Founder and CEO
Gradient MSP develops a financial operations platform purpose-built for MSPs, helping MSPs reconcile vendor billing, automate Microsoft licensing management, and market their services through AI-powered content automation. Over 2,500 MSPs use Gradient to reduce billing errors, recover revenue, and market their services.
Gradient Reconcile serves as a billing reconciliation platform for MSPs, syncing vendor usage against PSA agreements to surface discrepancies, recover lost revenue, and automate Microsoft licensing management. The Microsoft Add-on extends this with full catalog visibility, automated reconciliation, and renewal intelligence across the entire Microsoft licensing stack.
Website: https://www.meetgradient.com/
Helpt
Founded: 2022
Headquarters: Irvine, Calif.
Top Executive: David Sohn, Co-Founder
Helpt delivers 24/7/365, U.S.-based, human-powered IT help desk services for MSPs and IT service providers. By embedding seamlessly into existing service desks, Helpt resolves tickets, enhances customer experience, reduces operational strain, and helps partners scale without sacrificing service quality or hiring additional internal staff.
Helpt is a fully managed IT help desk system that extends existing support teams. Designed for technology service providers and internal IT organizations, it delivers live call answering, frontline technical support, ticket management, and seamless workflow integration for consistent, scalable support.
Website: gethelpt.com
Procure IT
Founded: 2022
Headquarters: Dallas, Texas
Top Executive: Randy Jeter, CEO
Procure IT is transforming IT decision-making with its Managed Intelligence Platform, an AI-driven solution that helps midmarket and enterprise organizations turn their technology data into actionable intelligence. The platform helps midmarket and enterprise organizations audit, manage and optimize IT environments.
The platform analyzes SaaS, cloud, contracts, invoices, IT assets, licensing, supplier performance and resource usage to uncover inefficiencies, reduce risk, identify savings and support always-on optimization and smarter technology decisions.
Website: www.procureit.com
Rewst
Founded: 2020
Headquarters: Tampa, Fla.
Top Executive: Aharon Chernin, CEO
Rewst provides a multi-tenant automation platform for MSPs, orchestrating repetitive processes across the MSP, its tools, and its clients. With 90-plus integrations, 120 pre-built automations (Crates), RoboRewsty’s AI-assisted capabilities, and an active community, Rewst helps more than 1,500 MSPs scale, improve service consistency, and gain competitive advantage.
The Rewst platform includes RoboRewsty’s AI Workflow Builder, which helps MSPs build faster by turning plain-language requests into workflow tasks, triggers, forms, Jinja, approvals, and documentation. The Rewst system also provides next-generation AI-native capabilities.
Website: https://rewst.io/
VistaXM
Founded: 2024
Headquarters: Sandy, Utah
Top Executive: Erik Vogel, CEO
VistaXM delivers managed revenue intelligence programs, anchored by PartnerPulse, for B2B technology companies, turning customer signals into revenue strategy for OEMs, channel partners, and MSPs.
The company’s programs measure customer sentiment across every buying persona and identify key drivers of renewal and expansion throughout the buying process, giving technology companies defensible data to protect revenue, accelerate acquisition, expand relationships, and reduce churn.
Website: https://www.vistaxm.com/
