Top 10: Spreadsheet editors for business

2023. Sourcetable raises $3M, claiming the future of spreadsheets is spreadsheets



Sourcetable, a startup aiming to develop the finest spreadsheet globally, has recently secured $3 million in seed funding. By entering the realm of spreadsheets, Sourcetable is directly competing with two colossal tech companies, both renowned worldwide: Microsoft with Excel and Google with Sheets. This ambitious endeavor is a substantial undertaking, prompting the question of what motivates McMillan to challenge these industry giants. Sourcetable incorporates a comprehensive set of features, including charts, graphs, pivots, real-time document collaboration, data synchronization with over 100 business applications, data warehousing capabilities, a SQL graphical user interface (GUI), and an SQL editor for querying extensive datasets. Additionally, it offers publishing features and encompasses all the familiar spreadsheet formulas, shortcuts, and cell-based notation that users expect from Excel and Sheets.


2021. Causal raises $4.2M to kill Excel with a better number-crunching app



ActiveCampaign, a leading provider of a "customer experience automation" platform, has recently concluded a successful funding round of $240 million. Their platform goes beyond conventional digital campaign management, automating follow-up processes to optimize sales and marketing operations. This aligns with the prevailing trend of leveraging cloud-based technology to introduce automation and streamline repetitive tasks across businesses. For instance, in sales, ActiveCampaign empowers e-commerce enterprises to identify instances where logged-in customers may have abandoned their site visit after engaging with a product through searching, clicking, or adding it to their cart. In response, the platform sends reminder emails to customers, presenting alternative options and follow-ups to address potential distractions or hesitations, with the aim of positively influencing their purchasing decisions.

2018. Mobile Zoho Sheet adds real-time spreadsheet collaboration


Zoho has recently introduced the new Zoho Sheet app for iOS and Android, revolutionizing spreadsheet management and collaboration on mobile devices. With this app, you can effortlessly carry your spreadsheets and collaborate with your team in real time, all from the convenience of your mobile device. Furthermore, you have the flexibility to share your spreadsheets as Microsoft Excel, .pdf, or .csv files, catering to diverse file format requirements. The latest version of Zoho Sheet also empowers you to handle large data sets with ease, providing options to sort and filter your data, ensuring a clutter-free view. Additionally, you can bring your data to life using a vibrant range of charts, which can be viewed in full screen mode. The app offers advanced features such as filtering out series, enabling precise chart analysis with utmost comfort and accuracy. Moreover, Zoho Sheet allows you to observe data patterns and trends with conditional formats and icon sets, enhancing data analysis capabilities even on your smartphones.


2008. SocialText wiki platform gets collaborative spreadsheets



Corporate Wiki software company SocialText is introducing a new addition to its wiki product: a spreadsheet feature called SocialCalc. With SocialCalc, users can collaborate on spreadsheets in the same manner as they do with the company's text-based Wikis. This feature is based on Dan Bricklin's open-source Wikicalc. Spreadsheet enthusiasts will have mixed feelings about this development. SocialCalc spreadsheets inherit the wiki-style revision tracking, providing an automatic audit trail. This feature becomes particularly valuable when dealing with financial or other data-intensive spreadsheets, surpassing its significance for text-based wiki pages. Users can effortlessly incorporate data from other SocialCalc sheets into their spreadsheets, as well as data from any SocialText wiki page or web URL. This capability opens up the possibility of constructing workgroup-wide or even company-wide spreadsheets. However, this hinges on the assumption that all members of the workgroup or company are comfortable using SocialCalc instead of Excel.


2006. Google Spreadsheets Goes Live



Google has recently released a tour of Google Spreadsheets, their formidable competitor to Excel. They are also extending an invitation to users for testing the service on a first-come-first-served basis. The platform appears refreshingly straightforward, offering features like live chat, multi-user editing, and import/export capabilities. In summary, it is an impressive product. This development brings a mixed blessing for online spreadsheet startups, as competing with Google can be daunting, potentially leading to acquisition scenarios. Several contenders in this space include Numbler, JotSpot Tracker, NumSum, DabbleDB, TracksLife, ZohoSheet, EditGrid, WikiCalc, and iRows. JotSpot stands out, garnering significant attention due to acquisition rumors (although unfounded) and a partnership with Salesforce. Stay tuned as the landscape evolves.