VC winter, slowdown, downturn… no matter what you call it, we are seeing companies taking a cautious approach when it comes to hiring or spending money across the world. While the SaaS industry is not doing the layoffs like other sectors, it’s not fully protected either. That’s not to say that the excitement is muted, as the stories this week will highlight. Read on to know why we’re saying so.
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News of the week
CRM pioneer Salesforce managed to beat the industry expectations with the results of its first quarter. It achieved revenue of $7.41billion (vs 7.38billion, expected by analysts) – an increase of 24 percent y-o-y, which also helped its share price to increase by 8 percent. In terms of the guidance, Salesforce is expecting the second-quarter revenue to be between $7.69 and $7.70billion.
Keeping the external factors in mind, it has reduced its revenue expectations for the entire year. It’ll also be slowing down hiring.
a16z-backed Loom lays off 14\% of staff, one year after becoming a unicorn
Screen recording service Loom has laid off 34 employees in product and people operations. It’s worth noting that the startup became a unicorn in May last year when it raised a $130million Series C round, led by A16z.
Google Cloud plans to bring more AI capabilities into the data center
The internet behemoth might be lagging behind Amazon and Microsoft in the cloud race, but it’s continuing to make its offering more robust. It’s now letting customers use AI, ML, and database capabilities directly in their data centers.
SaaS companies that got the funding this week
Constrafor grabs $106million in equity, credit to finance construction subcontractors
SaaS-based construction procurement platform Constrafor has gotten a $106.3million in investment in credit as well as seed funding. The platform offers financing along with streamlining information and documentation about contractors and subcontractors.
WorkOS, which brings ‘enterprise readiness’ to SaaS apps, raises $80million
WorkOS offers single-sign-on (SSO) along with directory sync for users and group provisioning for enterprises. It has now nabbed $80million in Series B funding led by Greenoaks.
It also announced the acquisition of Modulz, the company that has introduced a UI design tool and open-source projects such as Radix, a UI framework.
MoEngage raises $77million from Goldman Sachs, B Capital, others
Marketing automation and customer engagement software MoEngage has closed a $77million Series E funding round led by Goldman Sachs Asset Management and B Capital. The amount will be utilized for strengthening its position in the US, Europe, Asia, and Middle-East markets along with expanding to Latin America and Australia.
Related tweets: https://twitter.com/AakashTulsani/status/1532023130717270016
Related read: Interview with Suraj Dubey, Head – Growth Accelerator Program at MoEngage
JupiterOne scores $70million series C funding, achieves unicorn status
JupiterOne stands out with its graph-powered cybersecurity platform. It has received a $70million Series C investment led by Tribe Capital which values it at over $1billion.
Cybersecurity startup Hoxhunt raises $40million to teach employees to detect phishing
Cybersecurity training platform Hoxhunt has raised $40million in Series B funding led by Level Equity Management. Its platform offers millions of phishing simulations so that employees can detect possible threats.
LaunchNotes looks to transform how software product teams communicate changes to customers
We all have read boring app / software updates. LaunchNotes is aiming to change that by offering a platform that product teams can use to communicate product changes. It has raised $15million in Series A funding led by Insight Partners.
In numbers
Must reads
9 years ago, a simple marketing decision helped Slack become a $27billion company
How to announce: crafting the right message for a usage-based pricing launch
The “Ghost SaaS” threat and why security teams should take it seriously
Listen to
Understanding Paddle’s $200million acquisition of ProfitWell
Billing and invoicing software Paddle’s $200million acquisition of ProfitWell, a subscription analytics software, took everyone by surprise. And if you’re wondering why this is a significant deal, and how bootstrapped ProfitWell is all set to unlock faster growth under well-funded Paddle, then we have two excellent podcasts for you. In the first one, both Paddle and ProfitWell’s CEOs Christian Owens and Patrick Campbell talk about how this acquisition came about, why the latter chose to sell, and more. While in the second podcast, Patrick Campbell converses with Transistor’s Justin Jackson about the early days of ProfitWell, and his take on bootstrapped vs funding route among others.
Enterprise communities: the what, who, why, when and how with Venafi Head of Community, Holly Firestone
Community-led growth has become more than just a buzzword, but how can one leverage that? In this episode, Venafi’s Holly Firestone shares all you need to know about building a community, right from how to start to how to grow it further.
Watch
SaaS email marketing: beyond onboarding emails
Everyone says that email marketing is the best way to connect with customers. But how can a SaaS company use it? Well, this video acts as a good primer as shares all the emails that can be sent to users by a SaaS platform.
