# Lotus (YC S22)

Automating custom usage-based pricing for businesses.

- Canonical URL: https://wefunder.com/lotusprivate
- Entity ID: wefunder:company:124035
- Last updated: 2026-06-22T05:03:39Z
- Generated at: 2026-06-22T15:32:51Z

## Quick facts
- Team of former quants from MIT
- From first commit to launch in 3 months
- $900k raised
- 3 design partners already secured

## Active fundraises
- wefunder:fundraise:71219: 4(a)(6) successful (USD)
- wefunder:fundraise:71220: 4(a)(6) successful (USD)

## Story
Lotus is an open-core pricing and billing engine. We enable API companies to automate their custom usage-based pricing for any metric. Rather than guess on how to charge their customers, Lotus provides companies with powerful new tools from metering to invoicing to testing new pricing.Our team met at MIT studying Forward looking projections cannot be guaranteed.Our self-hosted software is free on GitHub, and we offer a paid cloud version and enterprise tier for support.Our Lead InvestorNantuket Ventures is our Lead Investor, investing $1,000 at these terms. Here's what they said about the investment:As an early-stage investor you occasionally have the good fortune of backing a company solving a big, relevant problem in the market. Other times you get to work with a founder that has had success in other areas of their life and is working on their first startup. However, rarely do you get the opportunity to be invested in both sides of the coin. This opportunity is exactly what Nantucket Ventures saw in this pair of formidable MIT CS grads taking on the massive challenge of usage-based SaaS pricing.

## FAQ
1. **Hi - 1) Have you signed any customers since launching the product in Oct? If so, what is the current MRR? 2) Are there any direct competitors in the space? What are your advantages? 3) Why did you decide to start/build Lotus? 4) Have any VC's invested (other than YC)? Please a...**
   - Hi! 1) Yes we started signing on customers last month after months of Q/A and promoting the opensource project which we got to 500+ stars. We are still under 10k MRR and looking to close that around March. 2) Yes there are direct competitors, however we offer an open-core approach built on customization and in addition pricing & packaging experimentation, which are defining characteristics/features of Lotus. 3) We came from a background of data-driven pricing, and think there is a massive...

## Team
- Mikael Nida (Co-Founder & CEO)
- Diego Escobedo (Co-Founder & CTO)

## Q&A
- Q: What is the potential cost/time savings of going with Lotus vs. building in-house? Can you elaborate on the 3 design partners? Are they customers? Paid? What is your plan to acquire customers? I see that you've raised $1M off WeFunder. Are you able to disclose who the co-investors are? With this raise, what is your expected runway?
- Q: Will this be open to the public?
- Q: Hi - 1) Have you signed any customers since launching the product in Oct? If so, what is the current MRR? 2) Are there any direct competitors in the space? What are your advantages? 3) Why did you decide to start/build Lotus? 4) Have any VC's invested (other than YC)? Please also answer Martin Phan's questions below. Thanks.
  - A: Hi! 1) Yes we started signing on customers last month after months of Q/A and promoting the opensource project which we got to 500+ stars. We are still under 10k MRR and looking to close that around March. 2) Yes there are direct competitors, however we offer an open-core approach built on customization and in addition pricing & packaging experimentation, which are defining characteristics/features of Lotus. 3) We came from a background of data-driven pricing, and think there is a massive opportunity to revolutionize how businesses determine their prices, billing is first in line in that trajectory. 4) Yes, we haven't disclosed the investors yet but a few funds and angels came into the round in September. Wefunder is our icing on the cake but it has taken us a few months to close on here.