Curious
Curious is a Seattle-based permanent-capital holding company that acquires majority stakes in profitable, $1M–$5M ARR software businesses and operates them for the long term. Its five-company portfolio spans infrastructure, no-code, vertical SaaS, SMB HR, and customer intelligence, with AI-native practices embedded across engineering and product.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2017
- HeadquartersSeattle, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Curious does
Curious is a privately held, Seattle-based permanent-capital holding company that acquires majority interests in profitable, cash-flow-positive software businesses and operates them for decades rather than pursuing resale. Founded by Andrew Dumont, the firm transitioned from early-stage venture investing into a buy-and-hold operator after closing a $16M permanent capital fund (Curious Fund II) in October 2023. Curious targets software companies in the $1M–$5M ARR range (and broader $500K–$5M per its deal sourcing), both bootstrapped and venture-backed, and explicitly courts the "abandoned middle"—companies that fell out of favor with VCs, have messy cap tables, or grew without venture-grade scale but remain viable. Its five majority-owned portfolio companies are Convox (infrastructure deployment platform, acquired April 2024), Buildfire (no-code mobile app builder, October 2024), Avenue (real estate growth platform with internal AI tool Dyme, July 2025), Polymer (SMB hiring and applicant tracking, July 2025), and Uservoice (customer feedback and intelligence platform, November 2025).
The underlying technology posture is explicitly AI-native: Curious states that each portfolio company leans fully on agentic coding across its engineering organization, and three portfolio companies—UserVoice, Avenue, and Buildfire—have shipped customer-facing generative AI features for feedback synthesis, no-code website creation, and natural-language app onboarding, respectively. The holding company itself runs internal AI sprints using Perplexity, Claude, Lovable, and Relevance. Business model economics are subscription and recurring-revenue at the portfolio level; at the holding level, value is created through operational transformation (turning unprofitable businesses profitable, preserving teams and products) and permanent capital appreciation. Curious generated aggregate portfolio ARR above $10M by 2025 while remaining profitable, employs more than 100 people across its portfolio, and markets itself through content (blog, "Built to Last" podcast, Curious Dispatch newsletter) and earned media (WSJ, TechCrunch).
Curious firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Curious
- Legal name
- Curious Software Holdings LLC
- Website
- https://curiousholdings.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2017
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Curious is a Seattle-based permanent-capital holding company that acquires majority stakes in profitable, $1M–$5M ARR software businesses and operates them for the long term. Its five-company portfolio spans infrastructure, no-code, vertical SaaS, SMB HR, and customer intelligence, with AI-native practices embedded across engineering and product.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Curious industry classification
Industry- Product category
- SaaS Holding Company
- NAICS
- Software Publishers (5132), Funds, Trusts, and Other Financial Vehicles (525)
- SIC
- Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Family Office Investment Platforms & Direct Investing (PE/VC/Co-Invest) (FSAAADAH)
Keywords
Where Curious is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Seattle
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Markets served
Curious business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others
Revenue model
- Acquisition and Operation of Software Businesses: Curious acquires majority interests in software companies and operates them for the long-term. Revenue is generated through operating profitable, cash-flow positive software businesses. They focus on making unprofitable businesses profitable and sustaining profitable ones, with a goal of building enduring companies rather than flipping them.
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels1 record
Marketing channels4 records
Curious product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Curious is a long-term permanent capital holding company that acquires majority interests in profitable SaaS businesses (typically $1M–$5M ARR) and operates them for decades. It runs a portfolio of five wholly-owned software companies—Convox, Buildfire, Avenue, Polymer, and Uservoice—providing shared operational resources, AI-native execution, and long-term capital rather than seeking quick exits.
Product overview
Curious is a long-term holding company that acquires and operates software businesses, functioning as a platform of five majority-owned portfolio companies. The portfolio includes: Convox (infrastructure platform for application deployment and scaling), Buildfire (no-code mobile app builder), Avenue (growth platform for real estate professionals with AI-powered website creation), Polymer (applicant tracking system for small businesses with job distribution capabilities), and Uservoice (customer feedback/intelligence platform). Curious provides permanent capital, deep operational experience, and long-term orientation to these companies, with AI embedded across the portfolio for agentic coding, automation, and generative AI capabilities.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Convox
Quantifiable outcome
- Crossed $10M in ARR while remaining profitable and growing
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use Curious
Customer profileNamed customers3 records
Segments2 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
Curious technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration3 records
AI capability8 records
Feature3 records
Curious partnerships and signals
Strategic signalScale indicators5 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Curious competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- Roper Technologies: Public technology conglomerate that acquires and operates vertical market software and engineered products for the long term. Like Curious, emphasizes long-term holding and operational excellence over financial engineering.
- HGGC: PE firm focused on acquiring middle-market software and services businesses. Actively targets profitable software companies in the lower-middle market, overlapping with Curious's acquisition criteria.
- Vista Equity Partners: Large PE firm exclusively focused on enterprise software. While typically targeting larger companies, Vista's foundational strategy of operating software businesses for long-term value creation parallels Curious's permanent capital approach.
- Thoma Bravo: One of the largest software-focused PE firms, with a long track record of acquiring and operating vertical market software businesses. Operates at much larger scale than Curious but pursues the same fundamental thesis.
- Alpine Investors: PE firm that acquires and operates lower-middle-market software and services businesses, including their Software-as-a-Service practice that targets smaller, profitable companies similar to Curious's profile.
- Constellation Software: Publicly traded Canadian company that acquires, maintains, and grows vertical market software businesses forever. Same core thesis as Curious but at massive scale with thousands of portfolio companies and $7B+ revenue.
Emerging players
- Bridgepoint Consulting: Lower-middle-market PE firm with software acquisition activity in the small-cap range. While not a permanent capital vehicle, it competes for similar acquisition targets as Curious in the $1M-$5M ARR range.
- Search Fund Accelerator: Aggregator of search fund activity where individual searchers acquire small companies (often $1M-$5M revenue) similar to Curious's target profile. Represents both competitive sourcing channel and adjacent acquisition model.
Others
- Headspring (an Alcor company): Acquired by Alcor (a permanent capital holding company similar in structure to Curious). Headspring serves as a platform company within Alcor's portfolio model of acquiring IT services and software businesses.
Direct peers
- Tiny: Tiny acquires and operates Shopify-related apps and software businesses for the long term. Like Curious, Tiny uses a permanent capital holding model to acquire small profitable software companies in a defined vertical.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Curious social profiles
Digital presenceCurious financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Curious leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles12 records
Curious subsidiaries and ownership
Company hierarchySubsidiaries5 records
Curious funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds1 record
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Curious M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A4 records
Investments7 records
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Curious
What does Curious do?
Curious is a long-term permanent capital holding company that acquires majority interests in profitable SaaS businesses (typically $1M–$5M ARR) and operates them for decades. It runs a portfolio of five wholly-owned software companies—Convox, Buildfire, Avenue, Polymer, and Uservoice—providing shared operational resources, AI-native execution, and long-term capital rather than seeking quick exits.
Is Curious a public or private company?
Curious is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Curious founded?
Curious was founded in 2017. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Curious based?
Curious is headquartered in Seattle, United States, in the North America region.
How does Curious make money?
One revenue line is on record: acquisition and Operation of Software Businesses.
Who are Curious's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are Roper Technologies, HGGC, Vista Equity Partners, Thoma Bravo, Alpine Investors and Constellation Software. Emerging players are Bridgepoint Consulting and Search Fund Accelerator. Headspring (an Alcor company) is listed as an others. Tiny is listed as a direct peer.
Does Curious have an API?
No public API is recorded for Curious.
What industry is Curious in?
Curious's product category is SaaS Holding Company. Its primary akta.pro industry code is FSAAADAH, Family Office Investment Platforms & Direct Investing (PE/VC/Co-Invest). Its NAICS code is 5132 and its SIC code is 7372.