Baton

Baton is a New York City-based online marketplace for the purchase and sale of small and medium-sized businesses. The platform targets owners of businesses valued above roughly $100,000 who are preparing to exit, and buyers seeking to acquire an operating business. Sellers begin with a free valuation that analyzes company financials, market trends and industry benchmarks, and can post a free private listing to test buyer demand before committing to a paid plan.

On paid plans, Baton produces a full listing with reconciled financials and a native digital data room, and guides the owner through buyer interest, negotiation and closing. Buyers can browse listings across all 50 states and underwrite deals from the data provided. Baton also works with lenders, accountants, lawyers and other professionals to support each stage of a transaction. The company reports a 70% close rate, which it characterizes as roughly ten times that of prior market solutions, and approximately 50% cost savings versus traditional processes.

Founding story

CEO and co-founder Chat Joglekar, previously vice president of sales strategy and operations at Zillow and earlier at Google and Spotify, drew on his experience with the transformation of residential real estate data to identify comparable inefficiencies in small business acquisitions: opaque valuations, limited access to value-improvement strategies, and difficulty finding trustworthy brokers. Co-founder Dylan Gans was motivated in part by his grandfather closing his business for lack of viable sale options. The founders positioned Baton's free valuation as an analogue to Zillow's Zestimate for small businesses.

Business model

Baton operates a two-sided transactional marketplace. Initial business valuations and a "Private Listing" option are offered free to owners, allowing them to gauge buyer interest without financial commitment. Paid subscriptions are sold in two tiers — a "lite" plan at $500 per month and a "pro" plan at $1,000 per month with enhanced services — which add a full listing with reconciled financials and a native data room. Baton charges a 6% commission on a successful sale, with monthly subscription payments credited toward that fee.

Subscription fees of $500 or $1,000 per month plus a 6% commission on completed business sales, with subscription payments credited against the commission.

Traction

By its pre-seed announcement Baton had provided free valuations to more than 500 small businesses and calculated about 4 million additional estimates from public data, operating with eight employees. As of January 2025 the company reported a 70% close rate, 50% cost savings versus traditional solutions, listings across all 50 states, and 15 employees with plans to reach 30 by the end of 2025.

Latest developments

In January 2025 Baton announced a $10M Series A led by Obvious Ventures with participation from Burst Capital, FJ Labs, Fluent Ventures, Spencer Rascoff via 75 & Sunny, Divergent Capital, Bloomberg Beta, Zeno Ventures and Giant Ventures. The company said it would use the capital to grow the marketplace and enhance its product, and planned to double headcount from 15 to 30 employees by the end of 2025.