The past week, we continued seeing many SaaS companies revealing their quarterly revenue numbers. But that wasn’t it… the last 7 days witnessed a significant acquisition as well as big funding announcements too.
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News of the week
Akamai acquires infrastructure-as-a-service provider Linode for $900 million
The buoyancy in the SaaS space is rubbing off in the other “as-a-service” providers too. Akamai, one of the leading content delivery networks, has announced the acquisition of Linode, an infrastructure-as-a-service platform. The deal is pegged at $900million, and is expected to close in Q1 of 2022.
Related read: Akamai CEO: Linode acquisition makes company ‘world’s most distributed cloud services provider’
Shopify suffers biggest drop ever on slowing growth outlook
While Shopify grew amidst the pandemic, it seems that the growth is stalling. It declined by 17 percent on the account of a weaker outlook in its quarterly results. Shopify mentioned that its full-year revenue will be lesser than the 57 percent increase in 2021. That said, the e-commerce software did beat analyst estimates as its revenue rose by 41 percent to $1.38billion (vs $1.34billion).
Related tweet thread: https://twitter.com/moizali/status/1493978529788215303
Okta’s marketing chief departs amid wave of executive exits
Identity and Access Management software Okta is witnessing a series of high-level departures. The latest is its Chief Marketing Officer Kendall Collins who has left the company within a year in the role. Okta is however highlighting that it’s growing at a fast clip and as it’s evolving, it has hired several new leaders to carry forward its mission.
Wix reports fourth quarter and full year 2021 results
Website builder software Wix reported strong results in Q4 as its revenue increased 16 percent year-on-year to $328.3million. Similar to Shopify, Wix has mentioned that the growth will slow down. It expects total revenue to be between $338- to $343million in Q1 2022.
Toast announces fourth quarter and full year 2021 financial results
Restaurant POS software Toast highlighted that it witnessed 111 percent growth y-o-y to $512million in the fourth quarter. For the entire year of 2021, its revenue was $1,705million, which was up 107 percent from the previous year. It also provided revenue guidance for the fiscal year 2022, where it expects it to be in the range of $2,349- to $2,409million.
SaaS companies that got the funding this week
Uniphore a unicorn as startup closes largest ever funding round for call center AI
Call center AI software Uniphore nabbed $400million in funding at a $2.5billion valuation. Founded in 2009, the company offers AI tools for contact centers, used by large businesses such as banks and airlines. The round was led by NEA and will be used by Uniphore to continue its leadership position and expand its operations.
Temporal is a unicorn: developer productivity startup lands $103million at $1.5billion valuation
Seattle-based Temporal is an open-source platform that helps companies in running cloud applications. It has raised $103million which has helped it become a unicorn with a $1.5 valuation. The Series B investment was led by Index Ventures.
Employment Hero raises $181million AUD at $1.25B AUD valuation, acquires KeyPay
In the past two years, we’ve seen several HR software getting investments. Employment Hero is no exception as it gets $181million AUD (~$129million USD). The Sydney-based company also announced the acquisition of KeyPay, a workforce management, and payroll software.
Stripe leads $75million investment round into payroll infrastructure startup Check
Check provides software tools for digitizing payrolls. It has received $75million in Series C funding, valuing it at $725million. The amount will be utilized for doubling Check’s team of 100 employees along with scaling the business further.
Databook secures $50million Series B at a $550million valuation to transform enterprise selling
Consultative sales intelligence platform Databook has closed a $50million Series B funding. Led by Bessemer Venture Partners, the company will be deploying the money towards hiring and expanding to other geographies and industries like banking, telecommunications, and consumer goods.
Tropic takes in more capital as demand for software procurement savings continues
With SaaS adoption on the rise, it’s also important for organizations to track the software that’s in use. Tropic helps in buying and managing the software used across the business, helping them save 23 percent on average. It has raised a $40million Series B investment led by Insight Partners.
Must reads
How Toast’s $12million+ SEO moat helped them grow during a pandemic
An inside look into PLG from leaders who are doing it right
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India SaaS story – Manav Garg (CEO & Founder, Eka) | fundraising | hiring | going from 0 – 1
Over the past couple of years, India has been able to showcase some impressive SaaS success stories. In this podcast, Eka Software Solutions’ Manav Garg who is also the author of “The India SaaS Story” shares how the subcontinent has been able to make a mark.
Hiring a team you actually like with Ben Orenstein and Derrick Reimer
In this podcast, Tuple’s Ben Orenstein and SavvyCal’s Derrick Reimer talk about how to set up long-term goals for the business. They also share how hiring plays an important role in taking the business in the direction one wants.
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I looked at 105 SaaS pricing pages. Here’s what I learned.
In this video, the host breaks down different SaaS pricing plans, how each of them differ, and more. The video also shares examples of companies that managed to successfully transition from one pricing plan to another and why they did that.
