Story thread · 2 reports / 2 sources

Beacon is betting AI can reinvent Main Street software

fastcompany.com · 4h · first reportShare

Over roughly the last two years, a company called Beacon has quietly acquired more than 40 software businesses serving market segments from campgrounds to labor unions to youth sports organizations. Beacon Software spruces up its portfolio companies’ offerings with the help of artificial intelligence , says founder and CEO Nilam Ganenthiran. That can mean adding AI features, modernizing software tools developed over decades, and using Beacon’s AI and data management software to aid in operations and planning. The goal is to serve Main Street-style businesses and other organizations that he says are often neglected by the enterprise-focused AI industry. “We think that it is existential that they get AI at the same rate that the rest of the economy does, but today they’re not,” says Ganenthiran, who previously served as president of Instacart. “They are often being forgotten by the big labs and the large behemoth technology companies.” Beacon is one of a number of companies focusing on w