This week was quite busy for the SaaS industry. We saw the Redmond giant Microsoft making a bunch of announcements at its annual Ignite event, and we also got to know about some major acquisitions in the space. Of course, the funding news continues unabated. So, without further ado, here’s everything you need to know about the happenings of the past 7 days in the world of SaaS.
Table of Contents
News of the week
Okta acquires rival Auth0 for $6.5billion
Identity and Access Management (IAM) is among the hottest categories in the software space, especially amidst the pandemic, as authenticating employees has become all the more important in the remote era. So it comes as no surprise that the leader in the space – Okta – has announced the acquisition of its rival Auth0 in an all-stock deal.
Okta also announced its quarterly results where it achieved the revenue of $234.7million, up 40 percent y-o-y.
Xero expands small business offering with Planday acquisition
Australia-based Xero, the popular accounting software, has announced the acquisition of Planday, a workforce management platform. The deal is pegged at €183.5million, in a mix of cash and stock deal. The deal will help Xero cement its position in the small business market.
Cybersecurity firm SentinelOne plans for IPO at possible $10billion value
AI-based cybersecurity firm SentinelOne reportedly plans to go public this year. While the talks are in early stage, the company could be valued as high as $10billion.
Risk analytics firm Qomplx to go public via Casper CEO SPAC
It seems that SaaS companies are also catching the SPAC bug. Qomplx, a risk-analytics provider to protect against cybersecurity threats, will be going public via Tailwind Acquisition Corp with a valuation of $1.4billion.
Zoom pops as company beats expectations and issues strong guidance
While many analysts expected the Zoom boom (pun intended) to slow down as people return to their workplaces, the video conferencing software has beat the market expectations with its quarterly results. It announced a revenue of $882.5million, much higher than the expected revenue of $811.8million. The year-on-year revenue has grown by 369 percent. Zoom also mentioned that it’s open to acquisition if it finds the right fit.
Box beats Q4 estimates as adoption of Box Suites accelerates
Cloud content management firm Box has beaten the analyst expectations with a Q4 revenue of $198.9million. The revenue for the entire fiscal year was $770.8million.
Snowflake eliminates dual-class share structure, hits estimates on guidance
Database management software Snowflake announced its quarterly results with a revenue of $190.5million. It also eliminated the dual-class share structure, giving all shareholders equal rights and control over the company’s direction.
Google Workspace picks up new features designed for remote work
The Alphabet-owned company is announcing a slew of features for Workspace (formerly G Suite). These include the ability to define focus times on Google Calendar and Chat, the ability to have second-screen experiences with Google Meet calls and launch of Google Workspace Frontline for frontline workers.
Microsoft launches Power Fx, a new open source low-code language
Many consider Excel to be the original low-code tool, so it comes as no surprise that Microsoft has launched a new low-code language that builds upon them. Dubbed Power Fx, the open-source language will be the standard for Microsoft’s low-code Power Platform.
Microsoft to add new shared channels, encryption for calls, webinar features to Teams
At its Ignite conference, the Redmond giant announced new features for Microsoft Teams. Teams Connect offers a new channel-sharing feature, while webinars on the platform can now invite up to 1,000 attendees. The software giant also introduced a new range of speakers termed Teams Intelligent Speakers that can identify and differentiate the voices of up to 10 people.
Cisco’s Webex debuts free, real-time translation from English to 100+ languages
Speaking of webinars, who can forget the pioneer in the space. Cisco’s Webex has brought the real-time translation feature with support for 100+ languages. The feature is free and will be available for public from May.
SaaS companies that got the funding this week
As the reports suggested, virtual event software company Hopin has closed a significant funding round of $400million. Co-led by A16z and General Catalyst, the company is now valued at $5.65billion, which shows how much it has grown from its last valuation of $2.125billion in November last year.
Papaya Global is the latest SaaS company to join the unicorn club. The company provides payroll, hiring, onboarding, and compliance services to organizations across the world for full-time or part-time employees.
Nuvolo raises $31million for a connected workplace platform built on ServiceNow
Enterprise Asset Management platform Nuvolo helps businesses optimize their employees and resources. It has now raised $31million in its Series C round led by Insight Partners. Worth noting that Nuvolo is built on top of ServiceNow’s Now platform.
Australia-based Employment Hero raises $45million AUD for its global expansion
Employment management software has got a major boost during the pandemic. And that’s why it comes as no surprise that Employment Hero has received $45million AUD (roughly $34.8million USD) as part of its Series D fundraise. The investment was led by SEEK and Salesforce Ventures also joins the cap table.
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