We’re seeing the proliferation of SaaS across the globe and not just limited to the major markets of the US and Europe. At least, that’s what you’ll notice when you look at the SaaS companies that got the funding. All that and more in this week’s edition of SaaS weekly roundup.
Table of Contents
News of the week
Apple’s App Store policies have been in the news for quite some time now, and not for a good reason. After its brawl with Fortnite-maker Epic Games for removing its app as it’s not supporting in-app purchases, the Cupertino giant has stopped WordPress’ updates unless it supports in-app purchases. Ironically, WordPress’ app doesn’t offer anything to purchase, and simply lets users create a website for free.
Wix launches a new company, Wix Answers, to unify customer support
Website builder software Wix has introduced a new company dubbed Wix Answers, which aims to help companies deliver highly efficient customer support. Interestingly, the company opted to launch a wholly owned subsidiary instead of launching a standalone product, and highlights the fact that it already has clients such as Getty Images and Yotpo. Having said that, it’s competing against the likes of Zendesk, so it remains to be seen how it’s able to stand out.
China is building a GitHub alternative called Gitee
With China building out everything on its own to reduce its dependence on the US, China’s government is pushing the seven-year old Gitee to emerge as the alternative for GitHub to offer the ability to manage git repositories. Gitee claims that it has hosted over 10million repositories and is being used by more than 5million developers.
SaaS companies that got the funding this week
Movable Ink raises $30M as it expands its personalization technology beyond email marketing
Movable Ink ensures that businesses can deliver more personalized and relevant emails to customers, and in a bid to continue doing the same, it has nabbed $30million funding. The Series C funding was led by Contour Venture Partners, and will be used by the company to focus on platforms, partners, and people.
Cobalt.io grabs $29M Series B to continue building out pentesting platform
Helping companies replace expensive manual tasks and replacing them with automated pentesting, Cobalt.io has raised $29million Series B funding. Led by Highland Europe, the startup highlights that it became cash-flow positive amidst the ongoing pandemic and will have 900 customers by the end of the year (up from 600 right now).
AI-based customer engagement platform iKala raises $17 million to expand in Southeast Asia
Taiwan-based iKala provides an AI-powered customer acquisition and engagement platform, and now it’s expanding to new Southeast Asian markets. For the purpose, the company has closed a $17million Series B funding round. Led Wistron Digital Technology Holding Company, the company will be launching in Indonesia and Malaysia.
Yalochat, a fast-growing conversational commerce startup, lands $15 million led by B Capital
Conversational commerce platform Yalochat has received $15million in Series B funding that was led by B Capital Group. The company claims that it has seen a tenfold increase in volume since the beginning of COVID-19 crisis, which gave investors the confidence to invest in the company.
Indian logistics SaaS startup FarEye bags $13 million
FarEye, a logistics startup, that’s being used by over 150 e-commerce and delivery companies globally, has gotten an additional $13million to close its Series D financing at $37.5million.
Must reads
Roam Research: The cult packaging playbook
The product-led growth single point of truth framework: managing scalable growth
Listen to
Figma’s Head of Sales, Kyle Parrish on why scaling from 0-1 in sales is so damn hard, the biggest lesson from moving sales outside core HQ & how to create a performance-led culture
Figma helps teams create, test and ship designs, and has become one of the fastest-growing SaaS companies raising over $132million. In this podcast, its Head of Sales shares his learnings from his previous experience of being at Dropbox, how founders should be making their first sales hire, how to create performance-led sales culture, and more.
Bootstrapping a SaaS from Zero to $55K MRR in 2 Years – with Arvid Kahl
FeedbackPanda, a bootstrapped SaaS startup that focused on a specific niche of English teachers teaching English as a second language to Chinese students, was sold within two years. Its co-founder Arvid Kahl shares his story on this podcast on how they find this niche, and how they marketed to the audience among other things.
Mischa Rürup: The growth of privacy tech and the opportunity for Usercentrics
In this episode of the SaaS Revolution Show, Mischa Rürup, the CEO and founder of Usercentrics discusses why privacy tech is more important than ever, how the company helps its customers navigate various privacy laws and more.
Watch
The most successful SaaS pricing models (how to price your product effectively)
Figuring out the pricing for your SaaS offering isn’t easy, but in this video, TK Kader breaks it down by offering three street smart and counterintuitive principles to define the SaaS pricing model.
