SaaS companies are raising millions, and that shows that the companies are revolutionizing a lot of segments. So as we start another week, it’s time to look back at the previous one and bring you everything that happened in the world of SaaS. So without further delay, let’s begin.
News of the week
Avaya details feature roadmap for Avaya Cloud Office by RingCentral
With the world moving towards cloud and “as a service” business model, popular unified communication company Avaya is also laying the roadmap for the same. Avaya has joined hands with RingCentral to introduce UCaaS (Unified Communications as a Service) and will be introducing several features over the course of 2020 to Avaya Cloud Office.
Instamojo launches SaaS solution for MSMEs with GetMeAShop acquisition
Instamojo started as a simplified payment gateway system for individuals and businesses, and has continued to evolve over the years. In its latest bid to become a full-stack player for MSMEs, it has acquired GetMeAShop to make it easier for small entrepreneurs to sell their products online.
Asana files to go public via direct listing
Asana, one of the most popular workplace productivity tools, has revealed its plans of going public by a direct listing route. Direct listing has suddenly become common in startups with Spotify leading the way back in 2018.
UK startup Rimilia raises $15 million to expand its “CRM for finance teams” across Europe and North America
Rimilia is a fintech company that touts the use of AI to automate payments from users. Its SaaS service could be used globally as it works with all kinds of banks, currencies and even languages.
Related read: Check out the pitch deck this London fintech used to raise $15 million from Silicon Valley Bank and Eight Road Ventures (Paywall)
How can early-stage founders build their SaaS startup with the help of Accel India?
Accel India has announced the launch of Founder Stack, a 10-week program to help early-stage Indian entrepreneurs in the SaaS space. Along with getting a workplace, founders will also get coaching from people who’ve already build successful SaaS companies.
After $479M round on $12.4B valuation, Snowflake CEO says IPO is next step
Snowflake is an analytic data warehouse that integrates with various cloud services such as AWS, Google Cloud and the likes. And after its latest fundraising, it seems that the company is quite close to going public – as soon as early summer this year.
Payments infra startup Finix closes $35M Series B led by Sequoia
Yet another payment company in this space is in the news in the past week as Finix has raised Series B funding. The company sells the payment tech to other companies.
SaaS-based fleet analytics startup Fleetx collects Series A cheque
Founded in 2017, Fleetx aims to create an operating system for logistics and fleet industry, allowing users to get an at-a-glance view of their entire operations. With its Series A fundraise, it aims to expand its presence across India as well as globally.
0. I analyzed the ARR and cumulative fundraising trajectories of the 21 VC-backed SaaS companies that have IPO-ed since 2017 2H – they can be divided into 4 patterns.
— Shin Kim February 5, 2020
Must reads
5 things Indian SaaS startups can do better
Ahmedabad’s Reelo takes its customer loyalty SaaS to India’s tech-shy MSMEs
Webinar marketing: how webinars can be used at every stage of the customer lifecycle
What is predatory pricing: examples, definition, and when is it illegal?
Listen to
Can software make work feel less like work? with Rahul Vohra, Superhuman
Superhuman has become one of the best ways to achieve inbox zero with the company promising that its email client is 2x faster than Gmail, Outlook, etc. But its secret sauce doesn’t necessarily lie in its speed, but the fact that it has used game design to effectively make it enjoyable for users to use it for checking emails.
Lesson from scaling Box from 5 employees to IPO: the right way for startups to approach partnerships with Karen Page, General Partner, B Capital Group
Box was among the first set of cloud companies that focused on B2B rather than B2C, and in this podcast, listen to Karen Page, who was with Box for nine as a founding member of the executive team to know how the company planned its go-to-market strategy.
In numbers
Social media management software company Buffer is known for its transparency as much as it’s admired for its functionality. And in its latest move, the company has made its revenue figures public, for anyone to see and the chart is updated in real-time too.
Watch
How Thinkific doubled their SaaS growth with landing pages
Using Unbounce, Thinkific created as many as 700 landing pages to convert the users, and managed to get 150k+ leads. Watch how the company managed to do that.
