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Profitable from Day One : How a Bootstrapped SaaS Found a Successful Exit
“My key priority was securing a buyer capable of both shaping a long-term strategic vision for DropFunnels and seamlessly transitioning ownership. The team at FE International had already identified the perfect buyer within their extensive network, ensuring a perfect match for the company’s future growth. ”
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Shopify Offers Fraud Protection to US Merchants, Elastic IPO, Square Rolls Out Monthly Installment Payments: Newsletter October 12, 2018
Shopify has this week launched Fraud Protect for Shopify Payments, a security system to safeguard merchants against fraudulent chargebacks. Currently available to select US stores only, the fraud protection system is derived from Shopify’s access to the millions of orders processed across its platform. Previously, Shopify merchants were left to manually review transactions for fraud. The new service now means Shopify will not only automatically screen purchases to detect fraud, but also assume the risk associated with fraudulent transactions. Pricing will be based on a small percentage of each order placed and screened.
Slack Prepares for 2019 IPO, Blockchain Market Predicted to Reach $7 billion, Google Ads Platform Update, UpWork IPO Opens 50% Up: Newsletter October 5, 2018
Slack is amid active preparations for a 2019 IPO, according to sources familiar with the matter. Reportedly expecting a valuation of $7 billion or higher, the intra-office communication market leader could file for public listing as early as the first quarter of 2019. Slack was valued at $5.1 billion in 2017 and has since surpassed 8 million daily active users, 3 million paid users and raised $427 million in a funding round led by Dragoneer Investment Group and General Atlantic. While Slack has consistently remained in a diligent multi-year IPO preparation process, the company has recently taken specific steps towards a listing on the public market. Slack has raised over $1 billion in lifetime funding.
Stripe Reaches $20B Valuation, Amazon Opens 4-Star Store in NYC, Digital Crosses Into Majority Advertising Spend: Newsletter September 28, 2018
Stripe has this week received a $20 billion valuation following a $245 million round of funding led by Tiger Global. The payments processing leader was previously valued at $9.2 billion after raising $150 million in 2016, and has since grown to serve 130 markets with payment origination in 25 countries. Congruent with its deployment of more than 3,200 versions of its core API this year, Stripe reportedly intends to use this recent funding round to build its “distributed global engineering team.” The company currently has no plans to file for an IPO.
Adobe Acquires Marketo, EU Competition Commissioner Investigates Amazon, Pinterest Expands Influencer Program: Newsletter September 21, 2018
Adobe this week announced it will acquire digital marketing platform Marketo from Vista Equity Partners. The $4.75 billion deal would be Adobe’s largest to date and bolster them in competition with incumbents like Salesforce, who have prioritized expanding into the marketing automation space (most notably through the $2.5 billion acquisition of ExactTarget). Adobe’s Digital Experience business, which includes their own marketing software, generated $614 million in revenue last quarter, demonstrating a 21% year-over-year growth from 2017. ADBE is up 78% over the past year.
SaaS 1000 Ranks Top SaaS Companies of Q2’18, Microsoft Acquires Lobe, EU Passes Controversial Copyright Law: Newsletter September 14, 2018
SaaS 1000, the industry’s official ranking of the world’s fastest growing SaaS companies, has this week released the 2Q’18 edition of the list. Using a proprietary algorithm that includes hiring trends, growth indicators and number of employees (among other indicators), the list highlights top SaaS companies worldwide, from smaller startups to the largest SaaS businesses. While the list is updated quarterly, companies must have between 40 and 1000 employees in order to rank. CultureIQ was named the number one fastest-growing SaaS company on the 2Q’18 list.
Shopify Launches New App Store, Juicer.io Acquired by SaaS.group, Microsoft Commits to Support Enterprise Users, Google Search Console Live: Newsletter September 7, 2018
Shopify Launches New App Store, Juicer.io Acquired by SaaS.group, Microsoft Commits to Support Enterprise Users, Google Search Console Live: Newsletter September 7, 2018
Transfer Online Business Ownership: Your Complete Checklist | FE International
If you have advanced along the business acquisition process to the point of contract signing and funding escrow then it’s likely your attention will be focusing upon the practical challenges of transferring an online business. There are many components to an online business and buyers can often be caught off guard by the logistics when the process begins. As with many things in business, preparation is key. Below we summarise the key parts in transferring an online business with best practice guidance on how to smoothly execute on each one.
SurveyMonkey Files for Nasdaq IPO, Google Ads Launches Strength Indicator, Amazon Surpasses $2000 PPS: Newsletter August 31, 2018
SurveyMonkey has this week filed for its IPO on the Nasdaq stock exchange. Documents filed with the SEC listed the fundraising target at $100 million, but the survey SaaS giant has yet to set a share price range. Recent financing from Tiger Global, ICONIQ and Social+Capital Partnership valued the company at $2 billion, despite 1H’18 reports showing net losses of $27.18 million (a 43% increase from the same period the previous year) on $121 million in revenue (a 13.6% increase from the same period the previous year). J.P. Morgan is listed as lead underwriter for the IPO.
Churn Rate Benchmarks, Nylas Closes a Series B, Braavo’s $6M Round, and Facebook Deletes Political Accounts: Newsletter August 24, 2018
Recurly this week published a study on subscription churn rates by industry type. The survey studied data from 1,200 businesses over the course of a year to establish benchmarks for a variety of different industries. Recurly found the overall monthly churn rate benchmark to be 6.12%, caveating the findings by noting churn rates vary greatly by industry. The survey also found that businesses in B2C industries experienced 7.69% churn, while those in B2B spaces experienced 5.56%. SaaS businesses had the lowest combined churn at 5.33%. This data is in line with FE data; the average churn for companies sold over the past decade is just 5.24%, beating the wider results published by Recurly.
