FOIA Direct

What FOIA Direct does

Stellar Corporation, doing business as FOIA Direct, is a privately-held software and IT services company founded in 2000 and headquartered in Lexington, Massachusetts. The company specializes in web-enabled applications for state and local government clients, primarily within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It operates through a US headquarters in Lexington and a wholly-owned offshore development subsidiary, Stellar Systems (P) Ltd., in Kolkata, India. Stellar holds ITS74 Technical Specialist certification (since 2005) as an approved IT services vendor for Massachusetts, as well as MBE and DBE certifications.

The company's product portfolio consists of four municipal web applications: FOIADirect (public records request management), Touchstone (online bar examination administration for the Massachusetts Board of Bar Examiners), Dog License Application (cloud-hosted pet licensing for towns), and Marriage License Application (online marriage licensing). The underlying technology stack is built on C#.NET, ASP.NET, Crystal Reports, Oracle 10g, and SharePoint, with products deployed as Amazon Cloud-hosted solutions requiring no client-side setup. Proprietary workflow features include due date calculation excluding weekends and holidays, document redaction tools, and configurable automated warning notifications.

Stellar generates revenue through two streams: subscription/recurring sale of its pre-built software products to government and municipal clients, and professional services revenue from custom software development, legacy application conversion, and IT staff augmentation. The go-to-market is exclusively enterprise field sales into government procurement channels, leveraging ITS74 vendor status. Named customers are concentrated in Massachusetts government — including the Department of Revenue (UST Maintenance Program, DLS Gateway), Supplier Diversity Office (CERTRAK), Massachusetts Housing Partnership (ONE Program, PMIS), the Board of Bar Examiners (Touchstone), and towns such as Braintree and Needham (Dog License). The firm is small (1-10 employees), has no external funding, and does not disclose revenue.

Name

FOIA Direct

Legal name

Stellar Corporation

Website

https://foiadirect.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2000

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Lexington

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Software Products: Sale of pre-built software products including FOIADirect, Touchstone, Dog License Application, and Marriage License Application to government and municipal clients.
2. Custom Software Development: Custom solution development, legacy application conversion, and software integration services for government sector clients.
3. IT Staff Augmentation: On-demand IT staffing augmentation services providing skilled personnel to match required skill sets for client projects.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels2 records

Core offering

Stellar Corporation (FOIA Direct) develops and sells web-enabled municipal software applications for state and local government clients in Massachusetts, including FOIADirect (public records request management), Touchstone (online bar examination), Dog License Application, and Marriage License Application. In addition to these pre-built products, the company delivers custom software development, legacy application modernization, and IT staff augmentation services through its U.S. headquarters in Lexington, MA and offshore facility in Kolkata, India.

Product overview

Stellar Corporation offers a suite of four distinct municipal web applications for Massachusetts government entities, each addressing specific administrative workflows. FOIADirect manages public records requests with routing, document handling, and public portal features. Touchstone provides online bar examination administration for the Massachusetts Board of Bar Examiners. The Dog License Application delivers cloud-hosted pet licensing with renewal tracking and reporting. The Marriage License Application handles remote marriage license filing in compliance with Massachusetts law. These products share a common web-based architecture focused on workflow automation and municipal compliance requirements.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Dog License: Online Dog Licensing software solution for municipalities
• Touchstone
• Marriage License

Products and services

• FOIADirect Web-based public records request management system designed for Massachusetts municipalities to receive, track, and respond to Freedom of Information Act requests with workflow automation, due-date calculation excluding weekends and holidays, assignment workflows, document handling and redaction, automated email warnings, and public portal capabilities.
• Touchstone Online examination platform built for the Massachusetts Board of Bar Examiners (MBBE) that administers the Local Law Components examination, manages petitioner registration, auto-generates unique exam sets, and provides real-time grading notifications.
• Dog License Application Amazon Cloud-hosted online dog licensing solution for Massachusetts municipalities that handles pet registration, owner details, vaccination tracking, renewal reminders, and generates reports for town administration.
• Marriage License Application Online marriage license management system for Massachusetts cities and towns that enables remote application submission, integrates with Massachusetts laws and guidelines, supports supplementary forms, and offers certificate printing with auto-populated data features.
• Custom Software Development Services Custom solution development services for government sector clients including workflow automation, application re-engineering, and software integration projects delivered from the Lexington, MA headquarters and Kolkata, India offshore facility.
• Legacy Application Conversion Services Conversion of legacy solutions to modern technology and business environments, focused on government and public sector clients needing migration of older applications to current web-based architectures.
• IT Staff Augmentation Services On-demand IT staffing augmentation providing Microsoft-certified personnel (.NET, SharePoint, distributed applications, database design) to government clients for project-based skill-set needs.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 1,000 loans made to first-time homebuyers through MHP ONE Program using Stellar's PMIS system
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature6 records

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• CivicPlus: CivicPlus offers municipal government software spanning licensing, permits, public records, and citizen engagement, serving small-to-mid municipalities in similar workflows to Stellar's products.
• GovOS: GovOS provides a suite of cloud-based software for local governments including records request, licensing, and permitting — closely aligned with Stellar's portfolio of municipal workflow applications.
• Granicus: Granicus is a leading govtech platform that includes FOIA/public records request management (via the NextRequest and GovDelivery products) serving state and local governments — directly competing with FOIADirect in the same workflow.
• JustFOIA: JustFOIA is a focused FOIA/public records request management software vendor for municipalities and counties, overlapping directly with the FOIADirect product on functionality and target buyer.

Broad incumbents

• Tyler Technologies: Tyler Technologies is a large public-sector software provider (ERP, courts, public records, licensing) serving state and local governments; it competes broadly with Stellar's municipal applications as part of a much wider portfolio.
• Accela: Accela is a government technology platform offering permitting, licensing, and civic engagement software for state and local agencies, addressing adjacent municipal workflows to Stellar's product set.
• Neogov: NeoGov provides HR, training, and workflow software specifically for the public sector; relevant as a government-focused software vendor selling workflow automation into similar municipal customers.
• OpenGov: OpenGov provides cloud software for state and local government budgeting, procurement, and operations; relevant as a broader incumbent in the same government-software space as Stellar.

Emerging players

• Questica: Questica provides government budgeting and transparency software to public agencies; an emerging player in adjacent government-software categories with comparable municipal buyer profiles.
• FOIA Machine: FOIA Machine is a public-records request management tool focused on helping requesters (and increasingly agencies) manage FOIA requests; an emerging player at the workflow level where FOIADirect operates.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/foiadirect
• Facebookfacebook.com/foiadirect

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about FOIA Direct