When it comes to computing advancements and propelling the growth of organizations, software-as-a-service (Saas) has proven to be an invaluable asset. As companies scramble to adopt new SaaS products, the industry has been growing leaps and bounds, with innovative SaaS companies leading the charge.
Though the SaaS industry has been around for four decades, most of its growth has come in the recent past. This is why the industry is projected to be worth $ 85.1 billion by 2023, up from $ 72.2 billion in 2019. As expected, SaaS providers also display excellent annual growth statistics with organizations such as Microsoft, Oracle, and SAP growing at 45%, 43%, and 36% annually.
With such annual growth rates, the SaaS industry is undoubtedly lucrative. Read on to find out details about SaaS companies that you should be watching out for.
1. Setapp
In 2017, Oleksandr Kosovan, the founder and CEO of MacPaw, started Setapp, a SaaS company that gives users easy access to over 140 apps for Mac. The apps bundled together are aimed at boosting productivity. The platform uses a subscription-based model where users pay a monthly fee of $9.99 to access the apps. Some of the apps availed by Setapp include the file transfer app AnyTransfer and MindNote for brainstorming, among many others.
Within its short period of existence, Setapp has managed to build a customer base of over 30,000 subscribers.
2. Shopify
Shopify is one of the most intriguing SaaS success stories. Initially, Scott Lake and Tobias Lutke, the founders, planned to build a platform for selling snowboards. However, from their endeavor, they ended up starting the world’s largest ecommerce platform.
With more and more people setting up online shops, Shopify makes it easier for its customers to do so, and they also offer the necessary support. This has seen them build a customer base that exceeds 325,000 shops. Among their clients are industry titans such as Google and Tesla.
Through their years of growth, Shopify has grown into a $10 billion SaaS company that generates monthly revenues of $20 million.
3. CoSchedule
Investments in marketing, coupled with excellent strategies, are critical drivers of organizational growth. CoSchedule is a pro-level platform that helps markets to achieve their objectives. It is a US-based company that was founded by Garrett Moon in 2014. Since it began operating, CoSchedule has been displaying excellent annual growth rates.
As a result, the company was named North Dakota’s fastest-growing company. The company now services over 9,000 clients in over 100 countries.
4. ActivTrak
One of the key components of maintaining steady organizational growth is ensuring that team performance and behavior are sustained or improved. This is exactly what ActivTrak offers, a solution that uses behavioral analytics to help management track their team’s performance. It is this unique and valuable offering that makes AktivTrack one of B2B SaaS companies attracting a lot of attention.
It is a US-based company and was founded in 2012 by Rita Selvaggi. The solution, which can be used to track workplace activities, also helps manage remote teams, thus helping improve performance. All this is available to organizations for free and applicable to both large and small enterprises.
ActivTrak helps you monitor your employees without violating their privacy. This has helped it attract many businesses to its solution, which is evident from the $4 million annual revenue.
5. Lately
An emerging trend in the SaaS market is the increasing demand for software that offers multiple solutions. Rather than have to rely on many platforms for different tasks, organizations prefer a solution that can help them perform various related tasks.
An excellent example of such a solution is lately. This solution helps companies with tasks related to analytics, content management, and communications, among others. Lately is the brainchild of Kate Bradley Chernis and has raised over $2.5 million in funding since its inception in 2014.
6. Zoom
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the stay at home measures, the number of Zoom users has risen exponentially. However, the success of this company began a lot earlier. Though Zoom was officially launched in 2013, it was founded in 2011 by Eric Yuan. Within a few months, over one million users had logged in with Zoom. This figure rose to 10 million in 2014, and by 2015 the company had over 40 million users.
With the increasing demand for Zoom services, the company attracted investors, and its valuation continued rising. By 2017 the company was worth $ 1billion, which would rise to $16 billion in 2019. With such remarkable growth in less than a decade in operation, Zoom remains to be one of the SaaS companies to watch.
7. HubSpot
Today, inbound marketing is one of the key components of digital marketing campaigns. Inbound marketing is one of the many things that are credited to HubSpot, a SaaS company that helps businesses with digital marketing. Some of their focus areas include content management, inbound marketing, SEO, web analytics, social media marketing, and CRM.
The company was founded in 2006 by Dharmesh Shah and Brian Halligan and has grown into a global go-to resource for all things digital marketing. With only three clients in their first year, HubSpot now has close to 10,000.
Its growth is marked with remarkable feats. In 2011, HubSpot grew 81% and earned revenues of $81 million. This was followed by revenues of $53 million in 2012. Committed to continued growth and serving more businesses, HubSpot has benefited from several rounds of funding through which it has raised $131 million.
8. Docurated
Docurated is an all-in-one software that helps organizations manage workflow as it helps with revenue measurement and customization and sharing of content. It was founded in 2012 by Alex Gorbansky and is one of the B2B SaaS vendors growing rapidly. Over the years, it has attracted investments totaling $5 million, which have helped it attain a global footprint.
How to Capitalize on the Immense Potential of the SaaS Industry
There is a lot of potential within the SaaS industry. Though the average annual growth rate for the entire industry is appealing, it is only the companies that take the initiative to understand their market and industry that will achieve their full potential. Key to such innovation-sparked growth is timely access to information.
Ascent is an organization that plans events and conferences for SaaS and B2B leaders to help them grow their companies. Register today for an immersive virtual conference and hear from executives of the best performing SaaS companies.