Recurring Revenues Aside, Why is SaaS so Attractive to Investors?

By Gaia Freydefont

When the lockdown came into effect businesses saw a crucial need for quick solutions to a new remote working environment as a result of Covid-19.

This urgent need for a remedy to working conditions we were not used to, has resulted in Software as a Service businesses being at the forefront of our everyday work lives, and consequently at the forefront of investor-focus.

The impact of the pandemic on SaaS businesses is an excellent example of why this business model is so attractive to investors. SaaS models have the potential to offer swift and flexible solutions that are capable to slot into our modern way of working, whilst at the same time, are extremely disruptive in the process.

Though it was certainly enhanced by the needs the pandemic brought, it is clear that there is persistent demand for SaaS models, because of the efficiency and flexibility it brings into our work lives.

This is evident from the dramatic growth of the SaaS business model parallel to the boom the tech ecosystem has experienced in the last decade.

The SaaS model’s ability to swiftly adapt to turbulent times has resulted in almost 40 per cent of SaaS companies, which are tracked by Beauhurst, seeing positive results arising from the pandemic.

Flexible working recently being introduced into our work lives has provided the SaaS industry with the opportunity and space to innovate to adjust to new remote working conditions.

Alongside this change in our work environment, the trend of businesses and public sectors moving towards a cloud-first approach has continued to invigorate important growth in the SaaS model.

The flexibility, scalability and data security that cloud-based strategies provide has widely helped to implement a hybrid home-office approach to work and has especially highlighted the potential of the SaaS industry to investors.

SaaS businesses also experienced intense growth, certainly another point of attraction for investors.

Out of 4000 SaaS businesses which started in 2011, just over 400 have exited either by IPO or acquisition and the rest are either starting up, starting to scale or scaling to an increasing extent.

Most promising for investors is the fact that almost 40 per cent of these companies are at early and seed stages, meaning there is likely an abundance of innovative services and encouraging opportunities to come for investors.

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