As we’re nearing the end of the year 2020, the space seems to continue to be packing a lot of action. From new launches to significant acquisitions and funding announcements, here’s what you may have missed in the week gone by.
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News of the week
UiPath says it filed confidentially for IPO, could be valued at more than $20billion
Robotic Process Automation has picked up amidst the challenging environment of COVID-19, and one company that’s making the most of the shift is Europe-based UiPath. Last valued at $10.22billion, the company has confidentially filed for going public at a valuation of $20billion.
Pluralsight enters into definitive agreement to be acquired by Vista Equity Partners for $3.5billion
Vista Equity Partners seems to be on a splurging spree. After acquiring Gainsight, it has plonked $3.5billion to acquire Pluralsight, an online education company for organizations. Post the acquisition is complete, the company will go private.
MessageBird acquires real-time notifications and in-app messaging platform Pusher for $35million
MessageBird, an omnichannel cloud communication platform, has acquired London-based in-app notification company Pusher. The deal is for $35million, and MessageBird will keep the Pusher as an independent product.
Honeywell, a company that has presence in verticals like aerospace and building technologies, has acquired an Australia-based SaaS company, Sine Group. It provides visitor management, workplace and supply chain solutions, which Honeywell will utilise to improve its Connected Buildings offerings.
Cloud data giant Rubrik acquires tech and IP assets from Seattle startup Igneous
Cloud data management startup Rubrik has purchased tech and IP assets from Seattle-based Igneous, which provides visibility and storage for unstructured data.
GitHub says goodbye to cookie banners
Microsoft-owned GitHub will be removing all non-essential cookies from its platform. The company has announced that it’ll not have a cookie banner for this reason, making it one of the largest sites to make the move.
SaaS companies that got the funding this week
Zenoti becomes a unicorn with $160 million funding round
Yet another Indian SaaS company enters the coveted unicorn club. Vertical SaaS provider Zenoti which provides a software for spa and salon industry, has raised $160million Series D round. Led by Advent International, the company will be using the capital to expand into new categories.
Discord secures $140million, doubles valuation to $7billion
It was just in June that Discord had raised $100million, and now it has been reported that the company is raising up to $140million at double the valuation. With a valuation of $7billion, the ongoing round is led by Greenoaks Capital.
Software maker ClickUp reaches $1billion value in funding round
Collaboration and productivity software are among the biggest beneficiaries of the pandemic. So it’s not a surprise to see ClickUp raising $100million Series B round, making it a unicorn. What’s interesting though is that the company had raised $35million six months ago.
BigID raises $70million in Series D funding; valued to $1billion
Data discovery and privacy platform BigID has closed a $70million funding round. Comprising both primary and secondary shares, the round was led by SalesForce Ventures and Tiger Global. The company will be using the money to improve its product further.
OpenView leads Series B funding round in Cypress
The adoption of CI/CD tools continues at an unprecedented space, but automated testing software hasn’t grown at the same pace. Cypress.io is changing that as if offers an open-source tool for developers to allow them to run end-to-end tests in the browser.
Indian sales automation startup LeadSquared secures $32m in series B round
India’s LeadSquared, a company that offers sales automation software, has closed a $32million Series B funding round. Led by Gaja Capital, the amount would be used for global expansion and improvement in the product.
Zoomin has raised $21 million to unify enterprise product content
Knowledge orchestration platform Zoomin Software has nabbed a $21million funding. The company helps the user find answers from enterprise documentation.
Check out
2020 expansion SaaS benchmarks
OpenView has just released its fourth edition of the expansion SaaS benchmarks survey, which highlights metrics that matter the most for SaaS businesses. With over 1,000 respondents across the globe, the report is quite insightful.
Must reads
Plenty of top SaaS companies are worth a lot less than 10x ARR
Subscriptions: the gift that keeps on giving
The ultimate SaaS acronyms cheat sheet
SaaS startups: India-born, US-focussed
Listen to
Instead of just one podcast, we’re sharing the entire mini season of Cloud 100 2020 Summit held by Bessemer Venture Partners. The season includes episodes such as go-to market strategies, things that companies should be mindful about before being IPOed, how developer platforms are evolving, and more.
Should you fund your SaaS startup with revenue? | Prasanna Krishnamoorthy (Partner – Upekkha Catalyst)
While most companies think that getting funded is the only way to grow, this podcast makes a strong case for funding the company’s growth with the revenue itself. More importantly, it shares how this decision should be made.
8x Growth in 2020: scaling at an exponential pace with Gilles Bertaux, Livestorm
Webinar and video conferencing software have made remote work quite easier. While all of us know about the growth of platforms like Zoom and Google Meet, there are other companies too that made huge strides this year. One such company is Livestorm, which has grown 8x within 2020 itself. In this podcast, its CEO and co-founder Gilles Bertaux talk about his experience of scaling the company, and its recent Series B funding, among others.
Watch
Investing in 250+ SaaS startups with Marvin Liao, Partner @ 500 Startups
In this episode of Escape Velocity, 500 Startups Marvin Liao discusses how investors decide on which company should they invest in. He also talks about his lessons from investing in early-stage tech startups.
