Welcome to the latest SaaS weekly roundup, where we curate the top picks from the week that went by. As always, the space has continued to see some significant news announcements, and notable fundraises.
Table of Contents
News of the week
Salesforce enters the streaming wars
CRM pioneer Salesforce has always been a step ahead of the curve, and Salesforce+ seems to be a step in that direction only. As the name suggests, it’s a streaming service, but instead of focusing on entertainment content, it’s for business professionals. It’ll be a free service, and launch at Salesforce’s annual conference, Dreamforce in September.
Wix launches a no-code app builder for $200 per month
Website builder software Wix is bringing the ability to make apps in a simple manner. Dubbed Branded App by Wix, it’ll let one create native apps without writing code. It’s not affordable though, as it’d cost $200 per month, plus an annual fee of $99 for iOS App Store listing, and a one-time fee of $25 for listing on Google Play Store.
Box raises revenue outlook for fiscal year, says business is accelerating
Cloud storage service Box has increased its revenue estimation for the fiscal year 2022. It has raised the outlook by $7million… keeping it in the range of $856 to $860million. Its Q2 revenue was $214million, which is 11 percent y-o-y.
SaaS companies that got the funding this week
Cloud data backup and recovery platform OwnBackup raises $240million
Backup and recovery service provider OwnBackup has received $240million Series E funding. With a valuation of $3.35billion, it’ll now be adding support for other cloud services such as Dynamics 365.
Gusto secures a $10billion valuation tailwind as its HR software sails toward IPO
Gusto has become one of the most valuable HR and payroll software companies with its latest funding round of $175million. Led by T. Rowe Price, it values the company at $9.5billion. Despite the challenges during COVID-19, it has continued to grow and expects to go public by next year.
Talkdesk’s valuation jumps to $10billion with Series D for smart contact centers
Cloud-based contact center software Talkdesk has nabbed $230million Series D funding that values it at $10billion. The amount will be used towards hiring in product and engineering teams, along with increasing the customer support staff.
FreshBooks reaches $1billion+ valuation with $130.75million for its SMB-focused accounting platform
Cloud-based accounting software FreshBooks has gotten $80.75million Series E funding. Additionally, it has received $50million in debt financing. This has propelled it to the coveted unicorn status, though the exact valuation isn’t known.
Mubadala backs software startup People.ai in new funding round
The latest unicorn in the SaaS space is People.ai, a sales software startup. Its CEO Oleg Rogynskyy mentions that the company didn’t need funding, but when Mubadala Investment and Akkadian Ventures came knocking, they couldn’t say no. Additionally, he highlighted that this $100million round could be the last raise before their eventual IPO.
Sales meeting booking platform Kronologic nabs $20million
Calendar monetization is an interesting term, and that’s what Kronologic promises by focusing on revenue-focused meetings. It has raised $20million in additional seed funding. It’ll be utilizing the fundraise for expanding its employee base by 50 percent.
Must reads
Why an AI chatbot should be the gatekeeper to your customer service
Hopin: making a global impact with virtual events
Listen to
How an indie hacker is competing with Buffer with Samy Dindane of Hypefury
In this Indie Hackers podcast, Samy Dindane talks about the inception of Hypefury, a Twitter growth tool. He also shares about how it’s different from other social media management software, how he crossed $20k MRR, and more.
ZoomInfo: the go-to-market platform
ZoomInfo – founded as DiscoverOrg in 2007 – has a fascinating journey. While today it has become the go-to sales intelligence software, it wasn’t always so. In this episode, its CEO Henry Schuck shares what differentiates it and his approach to M&A.
How Storyblok generated 1,500+ leads and brand awareness with gated assets
Storyblok, a headless CMS platform, helps businesses create a future-proof content management system. Its VP of Marketing, Thomas Peham, shares how he created a successful lead-gen effort by using gated assets while also having content to increase brand awareness.
Watch
B2B SaaS referral programs
Referrals are important for SaaS businesses to grow. And yet, there are a lot of misconceptions about the same, along with the fact, that it’s not an easy thing to implement. In this video, host TK Kader shares three principles for starting B2B SaaS referral programs.
