Featured Stories
Selling an Edtech Business: The PositivePsychology.com Exit
PositivePsychology.com, a mission-driven edtech platform used by 19M+ professionals, was acquired in an 8-figure deal advised by FE International. This case study covers their growth, decision to sell, and the exit process.
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Stripe Releases Billing Software and Spotify IPOs: Newsletter April 6, 2018
Stripe this week unveiled Stripe Billing, a suite of tools to manage recurring billing for online businesses. This update to Stripe Subscriptions offers a new developer API and dashboard to manage and personalize recurring payments for all customers. Business teams can create billing models which account for the full spectrum of recurring revenue structures, from simple seat-licensing to multi-layered tiered metered plans. Stripe Billing also accounts for making changes to pricing strategy, and will allow teams to easily test and update different pricing structures. In addition to a new dashboard, Stripe invoicing will promotoe faster payments by automatically emailing customers an invoice, and seeks to combat logistical churn with automated card updates that communicate with financial partners when customers are issued new cards.
Cách định giá website hoặc doanh nghiệp trực tuyến trong năm 2020
Nếu bạn đang cố gắng hiểu cách định giá một website hay một doanh nghiệp trực tuyến, bạn đã đến đúng nơi. Xác định chính xác giá trị website đôi khi là việc khó khăn nhất trong quá trình mua hàng. Việc loại bỏ đi tài sản hữu hình (physical assets) đôi khi sẽ làm việc định giá trở nên phức tạp hơn. Tuy nhiên, nếu bạn hiểu đươc các ưu, nhược điểm của các phương pháp định giá, thu thập đúng dữ liệu về các giá trị truyền tải liên quan và áp dụng chúng chính xác, bạn sẽ gần như định giá được website đó một cách hoàn chỉnh.
20+ SaaS Leaders Share Their Secrets to Success
Working with hundreds of SaaS business owners since 2010 has furnished us with a front row seat to some of the most creative ways founders achieve success. Facilitating the sharing of ideas is a passion of ours, so this year we have invited some of the most inventive minds in the SaaS industry to contribute to our roundup of the best tips for growing a SaaS business.
Dropbox Closes 35% Up at End of First Trading Day: Newsletter March 30, 2018
Dropbox closed up c.35% at the end of its first day trading on the Nasdaq this past Friday. In the biggest tech IPO since Snap went public in 2017, Dropbox (DBX) listed its $756 million IPO with 31 million shares priced at $21 a share, surpassing the predicted range of $18 to $20. The stock opened at $29 a share and later closed at $28.48 a share. Dropbox’s initial market cap of $8 billion increased c.50% for a peak of $12 million midday Friday, following reported 2017 revenues of $1 billion across 500 million registered users.
Patrick McKenzie
The team at FE International works extremely hard to exceed expectations at every turn. Over the past decade, our team has adapted and fine-tuned the marketing and acquisition process to create a proven and efficient model that gets results for buyers and sellers alike. In this video, Patrick McKenzie shares his experience selling multiple businesses with award-winning global M&A Advisor, FE International.
Salesforce to Acquire Mulesoft, G20 “Crypto Assets”, US Trade War and Google’s New VPN Service: Newsletter March 23, 2018
Salesforce announced on Tuesday that it would be acquiring Mulesoft, an integration platform for enterprise cloud networks, for $5.90 billion. Valued at $6.5 billion using a 21x multiple (including debt), Mulesoft will be acquired in a combination cash and stock deal after only a year of having been listed on the NYSE. The SaaS company grew 58% in 2017 and generated $297 million in revenue with a 73% gross margin, making it the second fastest-growing software company at the time of acquisition. The two SaaS businesses have a history of partnership, as Salesforce Ventures had previously invested $128 million in Mulesoft in 2015. Steve Koenig, an analyst at Wedbush Securities, observes that “It is really a natural fit for Salesforce to own Mule,” since the two services work in tandem to facilitate customers’ operations of their CRM with as few interruptions as possible. Bank of America Merrill Lynch advised Salesforce on the deal, while Goldman Sachs served as Mulesoft’s financial advisor.
Salesforce Launches Software for Small Businesses: Newsletter March 16, 2018
Salesforce continues to dominate global SaaS headlines this week with the release of its new Essentials product, a new sales and customer service software aimed specifically at the lucrative small business market. Having previously seen limited success in the SMB space, Salesforce intends the new software to target smaller teams requiring less functionality and more affordable pricing. With products that can be used “out-of-the-box”, Essentials eliminates functions that small businesses have complained are too complex and too expensive for their needs. According to Forrester Research analyst Kate Legget, Salesforce may run into trouble getting SMBs to choose Essentials over competitors. Along with the release, Salesforce announced they will discontinue Salesforce IQ and Desk.com, two products aimed at small businesses, in March 2020.
WeWork Acquires Conductor: Newsletter March 9, 2018
WeWork has this week announced their acquisition of Conductor. Specializing in the improvement of SEO for brands’ online presence, Conductor will leverage this acquisition to invest in their platform and move into the enterprise content marketing and distribution space. With plans to release its own marketing cloud, the digital marketing subsidiary will continue to operate as its own business but will partner with WeWork to bundle the two companies’ services for enterprise partners. Conductor raised over $60 million in funding from investors such as Matrix Partners, FirstMark, Investor Growth Capital, Blue Cloud Ventures and Catalyst Investors, however the financial terms of the acquisition were left undisclosed. According to Conductor CEO Besmertnik, existing customers should only expect the product to improve as they continue to invest in the platform’s development.
Spotify Officially Files for IPO: Newsletter March 2, 2018
Spotify has this week officially announced its plans to go public. Targeting a c.$1 billion IPO, the Swedish music-streaming platform does not plan on fundraising ahead of the exit, but instead will undergo a direct listing wherein existing shareholders will sell shares to investors on the public market. Currently trading between $90 and $132.50 per share off-market, the company is valued at $23.4 billion in the top range, but is not certain this valuation will necessarily pertain to public listing. Documents filed for the IPO show that 2017 revenue came close to $5 billion, up more than 38% from the year before, while reported losses of $1.46 billion nearly doubled compared to $657 million the previous year. Both ad-supported and paying monthly active users for the streaming company have grown consistently over the last three years, with paying subscribers having grown at a faster rate.
