It’s IPO season as many SaaS companies are filing to go public, and that shows the confidence in the companies and investors too about the space. But that’s not all this week was about, so let’s take a look at everything else you should know about in the world of SaaS.
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News of the week
Snowflake’s IPO could value it as high as $24B, Salesforce and Berkshire to invest
The news around Snowflake’s upcoming continues to draw buzz, and this time, it’s because the iconic Warren Buffet and Charlie Munger’s firm Berkshire Hathway has invested in the cloud company. Alongside Berkshire, Salesforce Ventures has invested, which takes the company’s valuation to a sky-high $24billion as they both have invested $250million.
JFrog sets terms for Nasdaq IPO at valuation of over $3b
The Israel-based JFrog, a company that offers automatic software updates, has also filed for an IPO with its shares priced between $33 to $37, valuing it at $3billion. The company will be raising between $255million and $312million.
Big data firm Sumo Logic aims to raise $310 million in U.S. IPO
Yet another firm which is aiming to go public is Sumologic as it plans to raise $310million, which will value it at $2.07billion. The firm offers application performance monitoring tool and it’ll sell 14.8million shares between the price range of $17 and $21.
Google binds no-code tools, API management and serverless computing into new development platform
The internet behemoth is ensuring that it also get a slice of the hot low-code space as it has introduced Business Application Platform that combines no-code app development with process automation and business analytics. If you remember, the no-code platform is based on AppSheet, a company Google acquired earlier this year.
Office editing on Android brings G Suite collaboration to Microsoft Office files
With its latest update to the G Suite, Android users will be able to edit Microsoft Office files using Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides. They’ll also be able utilize other features such as commenting, sharing and real-time collaboration.
Zoom rolls out two-factor authentication for all accounts
Zoom continues to add features to its software, with the latest making it more secure for logging in. Thanks to the 2FA, users will need to enter a one-time code via the mobile authentication app (such as Google Authenticator), SMS or phone call.
Slack shares plunge as growth stays steady with no coronavirus spike
Despite announcing that its revenue increased by 50 percent in the Q3 2020, Slack’s shares fell by as much as 20 percent. That’s perhaps because its growth can’t be compared with Zoom, the video-conferencing software that witnessed 355 percent growth. For the 2021 fiscal year, Slack is expecting a revenue of $870 to $876million.
DocuSign reports strong Q2 as revenue climbs 45%
Electronic signature company DocuSign announced its latest quarterly report, with its revenue increasing to $342.2million growing 45 percent y-o-y. It also provided guidance for the entire year, with its revenue to be in the range of $1.384billion to $1.388billion.
Related read: DocuSign CEO sees the new digital way of life outliving the pandemic
Progress announces acquisition of Chef
Progress, an application development company, has bought software automation company Chef. Founded in 2008, Chef offers a slew of products for DevOps and DevSecOps and has an ARR of $70million. Progress will be acquiring the company for $220million in cash.
Socialbakers acquired by customer engagement company Astute
Social media management software Socialbakers has been acquired by customer engagement platform Asture. While the terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, Socialbaker’s CEO Yuval Ben-Itzhak will become the president for the combined company which will have more than 600 employees and $100million in ARR.
SaaS companies that got the funding this week
Sprinklr valued at $2.7billion in Hellman & Friedman round
While Socialbakers got acquired, another company in the space raised a significant round of $300million. Sprinklr snagged the latest round of funding from PE firm Hellman & Friedman, valuing it at $2.7billion. In addition to that, the company also got $150million in convertible notes from Sixth Street Partners. Sprinklr also announced that it can go public as soon as the next year.
Snyk bags another $200M at $2.6B valuation 9 months after last raise
It was in January this year that automated testing software Snyk nabbed $100million, and now it has received $200million taking its valuation to more than double at $2.6billion. CEO Peter McKay highlights that the startup continues to grow amidst the pandemic with its revenue increased by $275 percent.
Payments startup Melio raises $144million to fund expansion
Melio, a payments startup, has snagged $144million to fuel its expansion. The firm was founded just two years back, and it aiming to use the funding to hire more engineers and salespeople along with collaborating with bookkeeping services such as QuickBooks.
Deel nabs $30M more for payroll, compliance and other tools to run global workforces
With remote work becoming a norm rather than an exception, it’s important for companies to ensure that they’re able to manage payments for their employees globally. That’s where Deel comes in as it manages not just payroll, but compliance with local labor laws, tax information, and more. Just months after its $14million round led by A16z, the startup has now raised $30million which was led by Spark Capital.
Sarbacane, maker of Mailify, raises $27M for marketing tools
France-based Martech company Sabarcane has gotten $27million, valuing the company at $45million. It’s not a startup per se as it was founded in 2001 and is already profitable. Its flagship offering is email marketing software Mailify which competes against Mailchimp, but it also has other products such as Layout for email design, Touchdown, an all-in-one marketing platform among others.
Hasura raises $25 million Series B and adds MySQL support to its GraphQL service
Hasura provides developers with an open-source engine with GraphQL APIs to access their databases. The startup has now closed a $25million Series B round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners. It has also announced the support for MySQL databases.
Must reads
SaaS growth: how to do it and what to track
Why founders should hire a Product Manager after raising a seed round
Listen to
The State of the Cloud 2020, the COVID beneficiaries edition with Byron Deeter and Elliott Robinson of Bessemer Venture Partners
In this podcast, BVP’s Byron Deeter and Elliott Robinson shares the insights from the 5th annual State of the Cloud Report. They talk about macro trends in the public and private cloud companies, provide learnings to companies in the space and what the future could look like.
How to manage the impact of Covid-19 on B2B revenue generation? ft. Vikas Potta, VP of Sales at FusionCharts
FusionChart’s VP of Sales, Vikas Potta discusses with the host about the impact of the ongoing crisis, and how the company responded. He also shares the sales strategies that worked for FusionCharts, one of India’s first company in the SaaS space.
Vajro: The importance of SaaS founder-market fit – with Baskar Agneeswaran
In this podcast, host Omer Khan talks to Vajro’s Baskar Agneeswaran about Vajro a platform that makes it easier for anyone to build mobile shopping apps for e-commerce stores. They talk about how Agneeswaran started the company, why it’s important to have the founder-market fit, and more.
Watch
SaaStr Annual@Home
SaaStr recently held its annual conference in the virtual form, and even if you missed it, then fret not. All the keynotes, and discussions are available in this playlist embedded above.
