# DealStack.ai Aiolum story: https://aiolum.com/story/dealstack-ai/ · added 2026-11-05 · updated 2026-11-06 **In short.** DealStack.ai (Search engine for small businesses for sale, with AI analysis of the sale documents, United States): 14K+ buyers by the company's count, November 2026. Evidence grade E: no revenue figure was checked. Team: Founder Alex Hines; the company calls itself "a small team" (October 2022); headcount not published. Launched May 2022; still running. Search engine for small businesses for sale, with AI analysis of the sale documents · United States · AI-native · team of 2 to 10 · still running · group: Finance, risk and compliance - Outcome: 14K+ buyers by the company's count, November 2026 (evidence grade of the headline number: E; no revenue figure) - Launch: May 2022; months from launch to the outcome: 54 - Team: Founder Alex Hines; the company calls itself "a small team" (October 2022); headcount not published - Outside funding: None published - Main factor: One searchable database of listings scattered over many broker sites - Meters, 1 to 4: evidence strength 1, copyable pattern 2, capital needed 1 - Tags: AI-native, Small team, Bootstrapped, Running, B2C, Business acquisition Links: - Visit dealstack.ai: https://www.dealstack.ai/ **The product.** A web platform for people who want to buy a small business. Kumo, its search engine, collects business-for-sale listings from brokers and marketplaces into one database with AI search and AI summaries; DealScreen reads the seller's documents and gives scores and risk flags; BuyerProfile is a buyer page that brokers can see. **Why it worked.** The home page says that buyers "spend months filtering bad leads across dozens of platforms, reading dense CIMs manually, and getting ignored by brokers who don't know them". UpNext World repeated this problem in May 2026: buyers review "dense financial documents" across "fragmented platforms". Evidence grades: A = disclosed by a public company, a filing or a payment processor, or verified by one; B = two or more independent reports agree, or a journalist confirmed it; C = a founder claim that no one else verified; D = reported, not verified: one founder claim or a third-party estimate with no second source; E = no revenue figure found, so the headline is a non-money fact and the other facts carry their own grades; calc = computed on this page from graded facts. ## Summary DealStack.ai sells software to acquisition entrepreneurs, people who buy an existing small business instead of starting one. Its search engine, Kumo, is a listing aggregator: a service that copies business-for-sale listings from many broker and marketplace sites into one database, removes duplicates and lets the buyer search them in plain English. DealScreen reads a CIM (confidential information memorandum, the sales document that a broker sends to a serious buyer) and returns scores, risk flags and a DSCR (debt service coverage ratio, the business's cash flow divided by its loan payments) analysis. Kumo opened a beta in May 2022 under BuildYourOrg Inc, the owner of the Kumo trademark named in the terms of service. In 2022 its home page did not mention AI; the AI search, the AI summaries and the DealScreen analysis appear on the 2026 pages. UpNext World named Alex Hines as the founder in its Web Summit Vancouver report of 15 May 2026. No revenue figure was found, so this is a grade E story. The headline is the company's own count: the Kumo pricing page says "TRUSTED BY 14,000+ BUYERS" in November 2026. Paid plans cost US$89 and US$149 a month, by the company's pricing pages. ## Pricing DealStack and Kumo prices on 5 November 2026, from the DealStack home page and the Kumo pricing page (grade C) | Plan | Per month, billed yearly (US$) | Per month, billed monthly (US$) | Limit | |---|---|---|---| | Basic | 0 | 0 | deals 30+ days old, 2 saved searches, AI deal matching and descriptions | | Pro | | 89 | all 100,000+ deals in real time, broker contact info, unlimited saved searches | | Ultimate | | 149 | Pro plus DealScreen CIM analysis, Deal Agent (beta), premium filters; list price 200 | | Enterprise | | | custom price; multi-seat access, private AI model tuning | Both pages show the same plans with a price "per month" and no yearly option. The Ultimate plan shows US$149 next to a struck-through US$200. "All paid plans include a 7-day free trial." The Kumo page adds an Enterprise plan with a custom price. ## How much revenue does DealStack.ai make? The numbers, graded A US search engine for small businesses for sale, live since 2022, with AI analysis added later; no revenue figure | Fact | Value | Grade | Note | Sources | |---|---|---|---|---| | Status, November 2026 | live, with a free plan and two paid plans | C | DealStack home page read 5 November 2026: "Start Free Today" and "All paid plans include a 7-day free trial." | [2, 3] | | Buyers, November 2026 | 14,000+ (the company's count) | C | Kumo pricing page, read 5 November 2026: "TRUSTED BY 14,000+ BUYERS". The page does not say whether these are paying or free accounts. | [3] | | Buyers, May 2026 | "thousands of acquisition entrepreneurs" | C | UpNext World, 15 May 2026: the platform "reports usage by thousands of acquisition entrepreneurs." The DealStack home page uses the same words. | [1, 2] | | Listings | 101,453+ active deals; 815,291+ listings sourced | C | Kumo home page, read 5 November 2026. In May 2022 the beta page claimed "4000+ Active deals" and "3500+ Active sources". | [4, 6] | | Launch | beta announced for May 2022 | C | Internet Archive copy of 18 May 2022: "Get early access to our beta, coming May 2022". The terms of service were last updated on 3 March 2022. | [6, 5] | | Company | BuildYourOrg Inc, owner of the Kumo trademark; address in Lewes, Delaware | C | Terms of service: "BuildYourOrg Inc, the owners of the Kumo trademark and intellectual property." The privacy policy gives "Lewes, DE 19958 USA". | [5] | | Founder | Alex Hines | C | UpNext World, 15 May 2026: "Founder: Alex Hines". The company pages read do not name a person. | [1] | | Team size | not published; "a small team" in 2022 | C | Internet Archive copy of the Kumo company page, 7 October 2022: "We're a small team with a big background." No headcount in any source read. | [7] | | Funding | none published | C | No source read mentions a funding round or an investor. | [1, 2] | | Prices | free; Pro US$89 a month; Ultimate US$149 a month | C | DealStack home page and Kumo pricing page, read 5 November 2026. | [2, 3] | | Payments | Stripe | C | Terms of service, 5.4: "All Charges are facilitated through a third-party payment processing service, Stripe." | [5] | | Time from launch to the headline | 54 months | calc | Calculated: May 2022 to November 2026. | [6, 3] | How to read this table: a grade C value comes from the company's own pages or from press that retells the company's account. A "calc" value was computed on this page. No value is grade A or B, and no revenue figure exists. ## When did DealStack.ai launch, and how did it grow? Timeline From a beta announced for May 2022 to the DealStack.ai suite in 2026. Each entry carries its grade. - **3 March 2022** (grade C [5]): The Kumo terms of service and privacy policy carry this "Last updated" date. - **May 2022** (grade C [6]): The Kumo home page invites buyers to a beta "coming May 2022" and claims 4,000+ active deals; it does not mention AI. - **7 October 2022** (grade C [7]): The Kumo company page says "We're a small team" and claims 100,000+ deals from thousands of brokers and marketplaces. - **10 April 2025** (grade C [8]): dealstack.ai shows only "Launching Soon" and a contact form. - **15 May 2026** (grade C [1]): UpNext World lists DealStack.ai and its founder Alex Hines in its Web Summit Vancouver 2026 report. - **November 2026** (grade C [2, 3]): DealStack.ai sells Kumo, DealScreen and BuyerProfile as one suite; the Kumo pricing page claims 14,000+ buyers. ## Why did DealStack.ai work? ### Collect the scattered listings Small businesses for sale are listed on many broker sites and marketplaces. Kumo's terms say it "aggregates business listings from online marketplaces, brokerage websites, email lists, and other sources"; the home page says it "combines duplicates" and tracks price changes. ### Let AI read the long documents AI writes short summaries of each listing, matches listings to a plain-English request, and DealScreen turns a CIM into scores, risk flags and a loan analysis. These are the parts sold in the Ultimate plan. ### Make the buyer look serious to brokers Brokers answer buyers they trust. BuyerProfile attaches the buyer's profile and a proof of funds to each CIM request; the home page claims "3x more broker replies" for verified buyers, without a source for the figure. ## How it was built These details come from the company's own pages and their page source. They are grade C. - The Kumo site, withkumo.com, is built with Webflow; the DealStack.ai site is a Next.js application, by the page source. - Payments go through Stripe, by the terms of service and the privacy policy. - Proof of funds for BuyerProfile connects to the buyer's bank through Plaid, by the home page. - No page read names the AI model provider behind the search, the summaries or DealScreen. Sources: [2, 4, 5] ## Who tried this before DealStack.ai, and why did they fail? Two companies in our database of failed startups also collected listings from other sites into one search engine, for rentals and for used cars. The values below are from that database and are not independently verified. The failed startups come from our database of dead startups, retold here in our own words; Its entries are AI-assisted summaries of public sources, so they carry no evidence grade. ### RadPad (2012 to 2017; funding US$13M; cause: Competition) - Promise: A phone app to find, lease and pay for rentals, with aggregated listings. - Why it died: Legal fights with Craigslist and competition from Zillow used up its money; it went bankrupt and was bought. - Record: ### Carsabi (2012 to 2015; funding US$1.2M; cause: Competition) - Promise: A used-car search engine that aggregated listings from dealers and private sellers, with price analytics. - Why it died: AutoTrader had more money and better technology, and Carsabi relied on organic growth that did not come. - Record: ## What changed RadPad and Carsabi also collected other sites' listings into one search, and both lost to larger listing sites; RadPad also fought Craigslist in court over listings. Kumo works in a smaller market, small-business sales, where the listings are spread over thousands of broker sites and no single large site holds them all. It also sells analysis on top of the search: reading CIMs and testing the loan figures, which the Ultimate plan sells with AI. Whether this keeps buyers paying is not in any source. ## Can one person copy DealStack.ai now? **Verdict: Possible for a small team; collecting and cleaning the listings is the hard part.** The AI parts, summarizing a listing and extracting figures from a CIM, can be built with rented models. The lasting work is collecting listings from thousands of broker sites, removing duplicates, tracking changes, and doing this within each site's rules. 1. Pick a market where listings are spread over many small sites and no large site holds them all. 2. Collect the listings within each site's terms, remove duplicates, and record price changes. 3. Give away search of older listings and charge for fresh listings, alerts and contact details. 4. Charge more for the slow expert step, here reading the CIM and testing the loan. **What is still open.** The same model could fit other scattered markets, such as franchise resales, commercial property or equipment for sale. ## What could go wrong for DealStack.ai? - **What is not verified.** No revenue figure, paying-customer count or funding round was found. The headline "14,000+ buyers" is the company's own count on its pricing page in November 2026, and it does not say how many pay; UpNext World in May 2026 only repeats "thousands of acquisition entrepreneurs". The home page counters for active deals, analysis accuracy and active buyers load by script and showed 0 in the downloaded page. A reader could look for a payment-processor profile such as TrustMRR, the company register entry of BuildYourOrg Inc, or an interview with the founder. - **Listings from other sites.** The product is built on other sites' listings. The terms of service say Kumo "aggregates business listings from online marketplaces, brokerage websites, email lists, and other sources", and the Pro plan sells "access to broker contact info". The sources read do not say whether the brokers and marketplaces gave permission. RadPad, a predecessor, fought Craigslist in court over aggregated listings. - **AI added after launch.** The Kumo home page of May 2022 describes deal aggregation and does not mention AI. AI search, AI summaries and DealScreen appear on the 2026 pages; the sources read do not date when they were added. - **Competition and model providers.** No other story on this site sells deal search to business buyers; several stories mention founders who list their own businesses for sale on TrustMRR, a different kind of marketplace. No page read names the AI model provider, so the dependence on one provider cannot be judged. The home page claim of "3x more broker replies" for verified buyers has no source. ## Sources 1. UpNext World, 15 May 2026: Web Summit Vancouver 2026: Enterprise AI Deployment Recap — https://upnext.world/web-summit-vancouver-2026-enterprise-ai-hits-the-deployment-wall/ (grade C). Read the section on DealStack.ai (downloaded by the pipeline). Source for the founder's name, the pitch and the traction sentence. 2. DealStack.ai home page, read 5 November 2026 — https://www.dealstack.ai/ (grade C). Read in full; the FAQ answers load by script and were not read. Source for the products, the prices, the Plaid link and the claims. 3. Kumo pricing page, read 5 November 2026 — https://www.withkumo.com/pricing (grade C). Read in full. Source for the 14,000+ buyers count and the four plans. 4. Kumo home page, read 5 November 2026 — https://www.withkumo.com/ (grade C). Read in full, with the page source. Source for the listing counts, the AI summaries and the Webflow site. 5. DealStack.ai Terms of Service and Privacy Policy (last updated 3 March 2022), read 5 November 2026 — https://www.dealstack.ai/terms-of-services (grade C). Read the sections on the platform, payments and the company address. The privacy policy is at https://www.dealstack.ai/privacy-policy. 6. Internet Archive copy of the Kumo home page, 18 May 2022 — https://web.archive.org/web/20220518174050/https://www.withkumo.com/ (grade C). Read in full. Source for the May 2022 beta and the 2022 deal counts. 7. Internet Archive copy of the Kumo company page, 7 October 2022 — https://web.archive.org/web/20221007155112/https://www.withkumo.com/company (grade C). Read in full. Source for "a small team". 8. Internet Archive copy of the dealstack.ai home page, 10 April 2025 — https://web.archive.org/web/20250410224542/https://dealstack.ai/ (grade C). Read in full. Source for the "Launching Soon" page in April 2025. 9. Database of failed startups, local export — /method/#dead (grade C). Local export. AI-written summaries, not independently verified. Source for the failed predecessors. Contact: aiolum@livyden.com. Run DealStack.ai? Send corrections or a verified figure to aiolum@livyden.com (subject: Correction: DealStack.ai).