TAM

$8.0 billion

Definition & approach: TAM is estimated as the annual revenue pool (SaaS + services) that an AI assistant for grant/funding discovery, automated tailored applications, pitch-deck generation, outreach and submissions would compete for globally. I used a top-down (report-backed) approach and deliberately measured vendor revenue markets (software + services) rather than the total dollars of funding available to startups (VC + grants), because the product's monetization is likely subscription + success fees (vendor revenue). Components and arithmetic (2023–2025 published market estimates): 1) Grant-management / grant-discovery & application automation software market (closest category for discovery + application automation): market estimates ~USD 2.78B (2024). Source: market research report summary used as 2024 baseline. 2) AI presentation / pitch-deck generator market (directly maps to automated pitch-deck generation): market estimate ~USD 1.50B (2024). 3) Online fundraising / donor-management & nonprofit fundraising software (covers outreach, donor/funder workflows and parts of fundraising automation): ~USD 3.7B (2023 baseline in available reports). Summation: $2.78B + $1.50B + $3.70B = $7.98B → round to $8.0B (annual global vendor-revenue TAM). Why this framing: the product competes with grant-management platforms, AI presentation/pitch tools, and fundraising/donor-management software vendors (and professional services such as grant-writing/pitch design). I exclude the far larger pools made up of total investor capital or public grant budgets (e.g., global VC and EU research programme budgets) because those are funds available to startups rather than the addressable revenue for a software/service vendor. (Those adjacent figures are cited below for context.) Key assumptions & caveats: these market reports use different scopes and there is overlap across categories (e.g., some grant management vendors also provide application-tracking and reporting or integrate presentation tools). I chose conservative, category-specific estimates (AI-focused presentation market rather than the entire presentation-software market) to limit double-counting. If TAM were measured as a percent of total funding available to startups (VC + grants), the dollar figure would be much larger but that is a different metric (funding pool vs vendor revenue).

• precedenceresearch.com
• wiseguyreports.com
• sphericalinsights.com
• express-press-release.net
• reuters.com

SAM

$1.6 billion (U.S. startups & innovative SMEs — annual)

Definition & approach: SAM is the portion of the TAM that is realistically serviceable by this product in the United States (initial go-to-market / highest-concentration startup market). Method: start from the TAM ($8.0B) then apply geographic and customer-segmentation filters supported by market reports and startup activity data. Steps and rationale: 1) North America concentration: market reports show North America is the single largest region for grant-management and presentation/fundraising software (grant-management North America share ~34%; presentation & fundraising software also show North America/US leadership). Using those sources, a reasonable North America share for these combined vendor markets ≈ 33% of global TAM → 0.33 * $8.0B = $2.64B. 2) Narrow to startups & innovative SMEs (serviceability): not all grant-management and fundraising software spend is by universities, large nonprofits, or government funders. For a product focused on startups (pre-seed → Series A, R&D-heavy SMEs who apply to SBIR / EIC / Horizon / corporate grants), assume a conservative share of North American spend ≈ 60% goes to startups/SMEs (the rest to institutions and large orgs). So SAM ≈ $2.64B * 0.60 = $1.584B → round to $1.6B. Contextual signals used to justify focusing on the US: the US is the single largest generator of VC and startup fundraising activity (reports show ~USD 209B+ VC invested in the U.S. in 2024 and thousands of VC deals annually), the SBIR/STTR ecosystem and other federal/state non-dilutive programs award thousands of grants annually to small businesses, and new business application volumes in the U.S. remain very large — together this concentrates demand for tools that find funding, automate applications, and speed investor outreach. Key sources used for the filters and context: (a) grant-management / NA share, (b) AI presentation & fundraising software regional notes, (c) SBIR award activity and U.S. startup / VC activity data to show concentration of demand in the U.S. Caveat: this SAM intentionally targets startups/innovative SMEs (not universities/large philanthropy/government agencies) because the product is optimized for startup fundraising and non-dilutive R&D grant capture.

• express-press-release.net
• coherentmarketinsights.com
• sphericalinsights.com
• reuters.com
• sbir.gov
• uschamber.com

SOM

$16 million (U.S., near‑term obtainable revenue — conservative 1% of SAM)

Definition & approach: SOM (Serviceable Obtainable Market) = realistic near-term revenue the startup could capture in the U.S. given go-to-market capacity, competition, and typical early-stage SaaS adoption curves. Calculation (conservative scenario): assume the company captures 1% of the U.S. startup SAM within a feasible timeframe (3–5 years) → 1% * $1.6B = $16M annual revenue. Why 1% is a conservative, realistic planning assumption: - Early-stage B2B SaaS products commonly model obtainable-market scenarios in the 0.5%–2% range of a focused SAM in early scale years (depends on GTM spend, product‑market fit, channel partnerships). Using 1% is a defensible, conservative projection for a focused, product-led + sales-assisted GTM in the U.S. startup segment. Illustrative operational translation (example): at a blended ARPU of ~$2,000/year (mix of subscription + occasional success fees/transaction revenue), $16M ARR ≈ 8,000 active startup customers. Alternate mixes (higher success‑fee dependence or higher enterprise pricing) change customer count but not the SOM revenue target. Use case & next steps: SOM should be refined with bottom-up segmentation (target verticals, accelerator/VC partnerships, SBIR-heavy sectors) and early pilot conversion data. If the product targets narrower niches first (e.g., deep‑tech SBIR-heavy startups + EIC applicants), it’s possible to reach this SOM with fewer high-value customers.

• goingvc.com
• icanpitch.com
• f22labs.com