SaaS
Introduction
On the Dealroom platform, you can explore over 220,000 SaaS startups & scaleups founded after 1990. Well-known B2B SaaS companies include Salesforce, Snowflake, Datadog and Character.ai.
Almost 90% of all SaaS investment is goes to B2B companies (focusing on enterprise and SME clients). So SaaS is primarily B2B, but a grey area exists between B2B and B2C. Notable B2C-ish SaaS companies include 1Password, Epic Games, and Taxfix.
Consumer subscription businesses like Netflix and Spotify could also be categorized as SaaS (and they are on Dealroom). B2C can also be a “bottom-up” B2B sales model in disguise.
Investment
SaaS has steadily become the most prominent investment category in venture capital. In 2022, 45% of venture capital was invested in startups with a SaaS business model.
Early-stage SaaS boom
The rise of SaaS has been especially pronounced in early-stage investing, with SaaS companies receiving over half of the total early stage VC investment in 2022.
There have been both increases in total investment and round count into SaaS startups with a 30% increase in total VC investment between 2021 and 2022 as well as a 6% increase in the number of Early-stage SaaS investment rounds during the same period.
By segment
Key verticals
Key B2B SaaS investment sectors include Fintech, Security, and Marketing. Meanwhile, fast-growing industries include Fashion, Sports, and Media.
Sub verticals
Key B2B SaaS investment sub-vertical include Payments, Crypto & Defi, and Health platforms . Meanwhile, emerging sub-verticals include SaaS for verticals like Apparel, Footwear, and Accessories.
By stage
Early Stage
Early-stage VC investment into SaaS startups doubled between 2019 and 2022.
Breakout Stage
Breakout-stage VC investment increased in 2022, as did the number of rounds.
Late-up Stage
Late-stage SaaS in the Bay Area has been one of the most overheated segments of 2021, and investment has dropped sharply since. In 2022 there was a 50% drop in VC investment into SaaS companies for rounds over $250 million and a 30% drop in VC investment into SaaS companies for rounds between $100-250 million as seen in the graphic above.
To learn more about this breakdown of venture capital investment flows into SaaS startups, open this query on the Dealroom.co platform.
Top SaaS investors
We’ve ranked VC firms based on the number of deals they’ve done in the last 5 years in B2B SaaS companies (number one investor indexed to 100).
Definitions
Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) is a software delivery and licensing method where software is accessed online via a subscription rather than bought and installed on individual computers. It has become a default for software companies.
Related content
- Taxonomy: Learn how Dealroom defines its entities, taxonomy, filters and more, click here
- Report: A New Frontier: Generative AI in 2022
- Dealroom Data: Explore SaaS funding rounds on the Dealroom.co platform.
- Dealroom Data: Explore SaaS companies on the Dealroom.co platform.