Hello,<p>We all have heard of big name software companies but what are some unusual software companies that makes millions every year which we might not have heard of?
In the GIS space there's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esri" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esri</a> It's like the Microsoft Office of creating and analysing spatial data. 1 billion USD revenue, 3000 employees and private owned, making the owner a billionaire (net worth estimated 8 billion USD).
I work for CCC IS, we make software to help collision repair facilities and auto insurers estimate the damage to your vehicle and the needed repair… only in the US, only private vehicle auto insurance… $7B market cap
I used to know the founder of JDA Software (which now operates under a new name). They do logistics:
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Yonder" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Yonder</a><p>The link suggests 1.1 Billion in revenue in 2021
In the geospatial data import and integration game since ~ 1990 sits the BC, Canada company Safe.com and their swiss army knife product FME<p><a href="https://www.safe.com/company/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.safe.com/company/</a><p><pre><code> Today we provide a range of data solutions for over 25,000 customers and over 200,000 users across 121 countries. Which is a whole lot of solutions for anyone who’s counting.
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I'm not spruiking here but it's a handy bit of kit for anyone pulling (say) land lease boundaries and tenement data from hundreds of different local government | state formats to integrate into a single XXX database (PostGres, MS, etc).<p>They're currently expanding from ~$70 M / year to a goal of $250 M / year .. but this is likely more through market expansion than software development.<p><a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230413005193/en/Safe-Software-Strives-to-More-Than-Triple-Revenue-to-250M-in-Five-Years-Through-Product-and-Market-Expansion" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230413005193/en/Saf...</a><p>---<p>Fugro is not a famous software company, arguably not even a software company .. but they have a <i>lot</i> of in house geospatial, geophysical, software ranging from firmware to desktop applications.<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fugro" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fugro</a><p>I have very mixed feelings about Fugro and haven't worked for them (having turned down a very good offer) but they did absorb a rather large chunk of my own personal codebase.
Probably have heard of it if you ever walked into a gas station, but Arizona Iced Tea has been kept a small company and yet they are profitable. Although some retailers charge more for it, the company has always had $0.99 on the can and it has never changed, even through inflation.<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arizona_Beverage_Company" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arizona_Beverage_Company</a>
Maybe this doesn't fit your definition of "software company" but Renaissance Technologies certainly makes a lot of money: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renaissance_Technologies" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renaissance_Technologies</a>
Solera - they had a product to find automotive spare parts. Their biggest customers were insurance companies.<p>Hotelbeds - Like Sabre, or Amadeus but for hotel rooms. Based in Majorca (they have an office near the airport). Nice people (and cool tech, btw)