River Cities Overview
River Cities first encountered the SaaS model with its EVault investment in 2001. The concept of delivering software as a
hosted, subscription service introduced new possibilities for entrepreneurs, customers and investors. The first wave of SaaS
was typified by horizontal solutions and applications. River Cities benefited from recognizing the value of this model early
and gained a competitive advantage by developing a track record of success and thought leadership at the onset. We have
invested roughly $100M across 16 SaaS portfolio companies and have had six successful liquidity events, including two IPOs.
Today, the Firm is focused on what we consider to be the second wave of the SaaS and tech-enabled business services
model, which is characterized by vertical solutions for niche markets with a services approach.
As a firm, River Cities invests in world-class management teams backing progressive, proven leaders in the markets of
information technology and healthcare. A consistent, cohesive team has honed its strategy over six funds with compelling
performance. River Cities seeks to be a business partner first and a capital provider second, investing significant human
capital to leverage its domain expertise and a network of thought leaders assembled over the last 23 years. With more than
$600M of capital raised and a consistent track record of success, River Cities has established itself as a preferred source of
growth capital. We are actively seeking new investments in the $5 million
- $30 million range, River Cities offers
entrepreneurs the flexibility to raise an appropriate amount of growth capital for the company's respective stage of
development.
Mobile platform for
collecting/sharing information via
mobile forms
Compliance management system
for community banks and credit
unions
Multi-location entreprise brand
management
Sales team document
management
Voice-based marketing
automation
Acquired by
Seagate
$185M
Acquired by
McAfee, Inc.
$170M
IPO
$215M
IPO
$89
Active River Cities SaaS Investments
2
River Cities SaaS Successes
Acquired by
GenStar Capital
$150
Acquired by
Strattam Capital
$90M
Commercial property management
software
Cloud-based digital marketing engine
that automates localized digital
advertising
AI predictive marketing analytics
solutions for generating and
prioritizing sales opportunities
Clinical communications service for
hospitals and physician practices
Table of Contents
Study Overview
Company Profiles
4
Summary of Key Findings
6
SaaS Funding Environment
SaaS IPO Statistics & Funding
8
Capital Efficiency
11
SaaS Public Company Valuation Metrics
13
Valuation Drivers
15
SaaS M&A Valuation Metrics
16
Key Operating Metrics
Revenue Growth
17
Gross Margins
19
Sales & Marketing Effectiveness
20
Research & Development
23
General & Administrative
24
Capital Expenditure
25
Profitability
26
Conclusion
Looking Ahead
27
Appendix
Renewal & Churn Rates
29
Other Sales and Marketing Metrics
31
3
Study Overview
This study considers operating metrics from 92 public SaaS companies during their developmental period (pre-$100
million in revenue). Key operating metrics for the subject companies were collected through year-end 2016. Data was
collected from public companies' S-1 filings in an effort to assess relative operating metrics at formative stages of
development that are comparable to those of our portfolio companies.
For example, we analyzed Salesforce's
performance from 2001 to 2003, when the company had less than $100 million of revenue.
From the collected data, we have identified target operating benchmarks for best-of-breed SaaS companies. Operating
benchmarks include capital efficiency, revenue growth, gross margin, operating expense investment, capital expenditures,
and EBITDA margin. This report is meant to offer entrepreneurs insight into River Cities' perspective on building a metrics-
driven SaaS organization.
Company Profiles
The number of public SaaS companies (92) included in this report has more than tripled since 2011. This increase in
sample size reflects the rapid adoption of SaaS applications by both enterprise and small and medium business (SMB)
users. With more than $8 billion in FY17 revenue, Salesforce is the largest company included in the study; most of the
public SaaS companies we evaluated generated less than $500 million in TTM revenue. The following tables provide an
overview of the companies included in this study. Of note, 72 of the 92 companies offer horizontal solutions. The other
20 companies are vertically-focused software vendors.
4
*River Cities Previous Portfolio Company
^Acquired
Exhibit 1A: Vertically-Focused Public SaaS Companies
Public Comps.
Ticker
Application
2U
TWOU
Provider of online higher education services.
AppFolio
APPF
Provider of software-as-a-service business solutions for property managers.
athenahealth
ATHN
Developer of web-based medical practice management software.
Blackbaud
BLKB
Provider of software and related services for nonprofit organizations.
Blackboard
BBBB
Provider of education technology services.
Convio^
CNVO
Provider of on-demand customer relationship management (CRM) software and services for non-profits.
Dealertrack^
TRAK
Provider of web-based digital marketing services.
Ebix
EBIX
Supplier of software and e-commerce services to the insurance industry.
Ellie Mae
ELLI
Provider of software used by mortgage lenders to make home loans.
Fleetmatics Group
FLTX
Provider of mobile workforce services for service-based businesses.
Guidewire Software
GWRE
Provider of software products for Property and Casualty insurers.
HealthStream
HSTM
Provider of internet-based learning and research services to the healthcare industry.
Medidata Solutions
MDSO
Provider of cloud-based technology for the life sciences industry.
MindBody
MB
Developer of business management software for fitness studios, spas, salons, and other retail clients.
OpenTable^
OPEN
Provider of online restaurant-reservation services.
Opower^
OPWR
Provider of customer engagement and energy efficiency cloud services to utilities.
Q2 Holdings
QTWO
Provider of an electronic banking software for banks and credit unions.
RealPage
RP
Provider of property management software services.
SPS Commerce*
SPSC
Provider of on-demand supply chain management solutions.
Textura
TXTR
Provider of on-demand business collaboration software to the commercial construction industry.
Veeva Systems
VEEV
Provider of cloud-based software for the global life-sciences industry.
Exhibit 1B: Horizontally-Focused Public SaaS Companies
Public Comps.
Ticker
Application
Amber Road
AMBR
Provider of global trade management software for importers, exporters and logistics service providers.
Apigee
APIC
Developer of an application programming interface (API) platform for digital business acceleration.
Apptio
APTI
Provider of on-demand Technology Business Management (TBM) services.
Atlassian
TEAM
Provider of collaboration software for product teams.
BazaarVoice
BV
Provider of outsourced technology, community management, analytics and syndication services.
Benefitfocus
BNFT
Provider of cloud-based software for managing employee benefits.
BlackLine Systems
BL
Developer of financial and accounting software.
Box
BOX
Provider of enterprise content-sharing and management platform.
Brightcove
BCOV
Provider of a video hosting and publishing solution.
Callidus Software
CALD
Provider of cloud-based sales, marketing and learning software.
Carbonite
CARB
Provider of online backup services to mainstream computer users.
5
Exhibit 1B: Horizontally-Focused Public SaaS Companies (cont.)
Public Comps.
Ticker
Application
Castlight Health
CSLT
Provider of employee healthcare-engagement platform for enterprises.
ChannelAdvisor
ECOM
Developer of ecommerce channel management software for retailers.
Concur Technologies^
CNQR
Developer of software for managing business expenses.
Constant Contact^
CTCT
Provider of on-demand email marketing, online survey and event marketing services.
Cornerstone OnDemand
CSOD
Provider of cloud-based talent management software.
Coupa Software
COUP
Provider of savings-as-a-service procurement software.
Covisint^
COVS
Provider of cloud platform for building Identity and Internet of Things (IoT) applications.
CVENT^
CVT
Operator of an event management technology company.
Demandtec^
DMAN
Provider of consumer demand management software.
Demandware
DWRE
Provider of enterprise cloud commerce services.
E2open^
EOPN
Developer of cloud-based software for supply-chain management.
Eloqua^
ELOQ
Provider of marketing automation software.
ExactTarget^
ET
Provider of on demand e-mail marketing software services.
FireEye
FEYE
Provider of security services for enterprises and service providers, among others.
Five9
FIVN
Provider of an on-demand call center software for inbound, outbound and blended call centers.
Hortonworks
HDP
Provider of platform for storing, managing and analyzing data.
HubSpot
HUBS
Provider of an all-in-one marketing software platform.
inContact^
SAAS
Provider of cloud contact handling software services.
Instructure
INST
Provider of a cloud-based learning management system.
IntraLinks Holdings
IL
Provider of an online workspace for document exchange.
Jive Software
JIVE
Provides communication and collaboration solutions
Kenexa^
KNXA
Provider of recruiting and employee retention software.
LifeLock^
LOCK
Provider of identity-theft protection services.
LivePerson
LPSN
Provider of customer-engagement software.
LogMeIn
LOGM
Provider of remote access / support services.
Marin Software
MRIN
Provider of an online advertising management system.
Marketo
MKTO
Provider of marketing automation software.
Mimecast
MIME
Provider of cloud-based unified email management (UEM) software.
Netsuite
N
Provider of cloud-based financials software suites.
New Relic
NEWR
Provider of software as a service based cloud application for performance management.
Omniture^
OMTR
Provider of online business optimization software.
Paycom Software
PAYC
Provider of internet payroll and human resource services.
Paylocity
PCTY
Provider of online payroll services and human resource software solutions.
Proofpoint
PFPT
Provider of software-as-a-service based email security and compliance software.
Qlik Technologies
QLIK
Developer of business intelligence software.
Qualys
QLYS
Provider of information technology security and compliance services.
Rally Software
RALY
Provider of software development tools.
Responsys^
MKTG
Provider of marketing software to design, execute and manage email campaigns.
RightNow Technologies^
RNOW
Provider of Web-based customer service software for the Internet and intranet environments.
RingCentral
RNG
Provider of cloud-based communication technology.
Salary.com
XWA
Provider of on-demand compensation and performance management solutions.
Salesforce.com^
CRM
Provider of customer relationship management (CRM) software.
SciQuest*^
SQI
Developer of web-based e-procurement, supply and materials management software.
ServiceNow
NOW
Provider of cloud-computing based services.
Shopify
SHOP
Developer of e-commerce software.
SuccessFactors^
SFSF
Provider of human resources performance and talent management software.
Synchronoss Tech
SNCR
Provider of personal cloud services and software-based activation for connected devices.
Tableau Software
DATA
Developer of an analytics and visualization software.
Taleo^
TLEO
Provider of on-demand unified talent management software service.
Tangoe^
TNGO
Provider of IT and Telecom Expense Management (TEM) software and services.
Twilio
TWLO
Provider of an application programming interface (API) for voice communications.
Ultimate Software Group
ULTI
Provides unified human capital management software.
Upland Software
UPLD
Provider of an enterprise work-management software.
Vocus^
VOCS
Provider of on-demand software for corporate communications and public relations.
WageWorks
WAGE
Provider of consumer directed health plans.
Workday
WDAY
Provider of human capital management, financial management and payroll software.
Workiva
WK
Provider of a cloud based software for external financial reporting.
Xactly
XTLY
Provider of on-demand software to manage sales performance and incentive compensation.
Zendesk
ZEN
Provider of a cloud-based customer service software.
Zix
ZIXI
Provides email encryption services.
*River Cities Previous Portfolio Company
^Acquired
Introduction
Summary of Key Findings
Below is a summary of key findings from the report:
SaaS adoption continues to increase at a rapid pace; Gartner estimates that the SaaS market will grow at a
19.7% CAGR through 2019.
92 pure-play SaaS vendors have gone public, 27 of which happened in the last three years; 68 remain in the
public market. Of the 92 companies, 72 provide horizontal solutions; 20 are vertically focused.
Public SaaS companies are maturing: Five companies achieved revenue in excess of $1B. This is an increase of
four companies from our last report in 2014 in which only Salesforce had passed the $1B mark.

Investors continue to prioritize revenue growth over free cash flow in an effort to drive shareholder value.
Only seven of the 39 companies that have gone public since 2013 had positive EBITDA at the time of IPO. For
comparison, 32 out of 53 companies that went public prior to 2013 had positive EBITDA.
Revenue multiples remain the primary valuation metric for SaaS investments. The average public SaaS
company is valued at 6.0 times revenue as of June 30, 2017.
While revenue growth continues to be the primary driver of valuation, it appears that the market is starting
to price and reward the ability to generate healthy EBITDA margins while sustaining growth. Over the past
few years, the industry has come up with the "Rule of 40" as a way to measure and compare growth. The
40% rule is that your growth rate + your profit should add up to 40%. So if you add your revenue growth
percentage to your EBITDA margins percentage, ideally you want to be greater than 40% or close to 40% as
possible.
10 companies that scored 40% or greater averaged revenue multiples of 6.4x TTM revenue;
26 companies that scored between 20% - 40% averaged revenue multiples of 5.3x TTM revenue;
19 companies that scored between 0% - 20% averaged revenue multiples of 3.8x TTM revenue;
8 companies that scored less than 0% averaged revenue multiples of 1.9x TTM revenue.
Compelling SaaS market momentum coupled with solid returns from early SaaS investors continues to draw
more private institutional capital to the sector. In 2003 (two years after River Cities' first SaaS investment in
EVault), 548 investment firms invested $1.7B of private equity in 200 rounds of funding in SaaS companies.
That number climbed to more than $18.5 billion across nearly 2,000 financing rounds in 2016.
Approximately 2,100 investment firms participated in those rounds, a 4x increase in the number of active
SaaS investors as compared to 2003. Today, nearly every venture/growth equity investor focused on
Information Technology is targeting SaaS companies.
6
Introduction
Summary of Key Findings Continued
Companies that went public prior to 2011 raised an average of $41.6M before going public while SaaS
companies that went public post-2011 raised an average of $90.4M. Furthermore, the companies that went
public after 2011 are raising capital at later stages (the majority of capital being raised post $50M in
revenue), the proceeds of which are increasingly used to provide liquidity for shareholders in addition to
funding growth.
Despite that post-2011 companies have raised more than twice that of pre-2011 companies, their growth
rates are lower than the pre-2011 cohort at IPO by 14%. More and more, proceeds from these financings are
being utilized less efficiently and/or going to fund liquidity for shareholders instead of growth initiatives. We
suspect that the big discrepancy in funding between pre-and post-2011 companies is also tied to the
prevalence of large pre-IPO rounds, which have become increasingly common as private markets have
supported secondary liquidity needs.
Sales and marketing expense as a percentage of revenue tends to be significantly lower for vertical SaaS
companies than for horizontal companies. Horizontal companies tend to spend 15% - 20% more on sales and
marketing as a percentage of revenue than vertically focused companies until about $30 million in revenue is
achieved. At scale, the gap narrows as vertical solutions seem to increase their sales and marketing spend in
comparison to the horizontal solutions. A likely reason for this dynamic is that vertical solutions greater than
$30 million in revenue start looking at adjacent markets and/or new geographies as means to expand their
total addressable markets.
Well-performing SaaS companies achieve payback on sales and marketing investments in less than 24
months, with better companies reaching payback in under 12 months.
Vertically-focused companies tend to see more efficient results than horizontally-focused companies.
Horizontal players spend more, on average, to acquire $1 million of revenue or gross profit. Vertically-focused
companies in the $15-$30 million revenue range see payback periods nearly 12 months shorter than their
horizontal counterparts. Horizontal companies, however, do see an improvement in sales and marketing
payback as they grow, with the gap between the payback periods shrinking as revenue scales.
To better understand the unit economics of a SaaS business, two important metrics come into play: Lifetime
value of a typical customer (LTV) and the cost to acquire a typical customer (CAC). The best SaaS businesses
have an LTV to CAC ratio higher than 3x.

In many regards, it's never been easier to launch a SaaS company, though interestingly, there has been an
uptick in R&D spend in recent years. Companies that went public since 2011 spent roughly 10% more of
revenue on R&D than companies that went public prior to 2011. We attribute this trend to an increase in
competition and the over funding of certain sectors like sales and marketing.
7
SaaS IPO Statistics & Funding
The SaaS industry has grown rapidly over the last
decade and this growth has translated into a
growing universe of publicly traded SaaS companies.
When we published our first study in 2009, there
were only 17 companies included in our data set.
We added 49 more companies in 2014, and today
we include 92 SaaS businesses.
Of the 92 companies included in this data set, 24
have been acquired, and 68 SaaS providers continue
to trade as public companies. As seen in Exhibit 2A,
the number of SaaS IPOs spiked in the 2012-2014
timeframe but slowed in 2015 and again in 2016.
SaaS Funding Environment
8
The robust SaaS IPO market from 2012 2014 was reflective of the overall favorable market during that time with
total IPOs increasing from 125 in 2011 to 275 in 2014. The spike in IPOs can also be attributed to the wave of SaaS
companies that were founded in the early to mid-2000's (post dot-com era), which created for a nice backlog. Note
that the average company takes anywhere from 9 12 years to go from founding to IPO. The last two years have seen
slow-down in the IPO market given macro trends and the total number of IPOs dropping to a dismal 105 in 2016. We
also believe that several private companies are choosing to delay their IPO by raising large pre-IPO rounds.
1
4
4
2
6
0
3
6
6
15
12
15
8
4
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Exhibit 2A. Number of IPOs
Note: Does not include six IPOs that occurred pre-2003.
9
Exhibit 2B highlights trends in scale at the time of IPO. Out of the 39 companies that raised public equity since our last
report, all but three had TTM revenues of at least $50 million at IPO. Between 2015-2016, the median revenue at IPO
climbed to $111 million . Of those 39 companies, Textura was the smallest with $36 million in TTM revenue, and
Atlassian was the largest with $320 million.
Interestingly, only seven of the 39 companies had positive EBITDA at the time of IPO. For comparison, 32 out of 53
companies that went public prior to 2013 had positive EBITDA. Public equity investors have recognized the SaaS
market opportunity and accepted the belief that fast-growing market leaders will be rewarded with premium
valuations, even at the expense of near-term profitability.
$20
$75
$73
$106
$111
($7)
$6
$5
($13)
($19)
-
Exhibit 2B. Median Rev & EBITDA at IPO ($m)
Median Revenue
Median EBITDA
$25
$51
$59
$110
$156
8yrs
11yrs
13yrs
10yrs
12yrs
Exhibit 2C. Median Funding & Years to IPO ($m)
Funding to IPO
Median Years to IPO
As seen in Exhibit 2C, the best performing SaaS companies typically go public approximately 12 years after they are
founded. While time to IPO has remained fairly consistent, the amount of funding required to get to IPO has
significantly increased since 2011. This data point is consistent with the uptick in revenue at time of IPO and reflects
the prevailing tendency for companies to stay private longer.
Interestingly, horizontally-focused SaaS companies
typically obtain 15% more funding prior to IPO than their vertically-focused counterparts, although that margin has
narrowed to 7% over the past five years.
There are several factors influencing the average increase in funding required pre-IPO. In general, the availability of
capital for SaaS companies has skyrocketed over the last decade, given attractive sector returns. For example, in 2003
(two years after River Cities' first SaaS investment and when analysts began tracking SaaS as a sector), 548 PE/VC firms
invested a total of $1.7 billion in the SaaS sector across 200 rounds of funding. As seen in Exhibit 2D, that number
climbed to more than $19 billion across 2,200 financing rounds in 2014. Approximately 2,100 investment firms
participated in those rounds, a 4x increase.
Today, nearly every venture/growth equity investor focused on
Information Technology is targeting SaaS companies.
10
Source: PitchBook Data, Inc.
447
597
649
631
821
1,165
1,556
2,023
2,221
2,063
1,837
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
Years
Exhibit 2D. Number of VC Funding Rounds in SaaS Companies
Capital Efficiency
Exhibit 3A shows a simple ratio that demonstrates the capital efficiency of a business. The ratio is calculated by
dividing TTM revenue into the cumulative debt and equity that the company has raised. For example, if a company
has raised $10 million of capital to get to $20 million of revenue, its efficiency ratio would be 200%.
In general, capital efficiency increases as SaaS companies scale. Companies with less than $5 million in revenue stayed
within the 9% - 26% capital efficiency range. By the time these companies reached $30-$50 million in revenue, capital
efficiency increased to the 50% - 100% range, proving that, as companies scale, they are able to fund their own growth
through organic means. Capital efficiency further improves to 85% - 180% as these companies surpass $75 million in
revenue.
Best-of-breed SaaS companies achieve significant leverage on invested capital by the time they IPO. The median
capital efficiency at the time of IPO was 193% for the companies we analyzed. Impressively, 63% of these companies
achieved capital efficiency in excess of 100% at the time of IPO.
We also segmented our data set between horizontally- and vertically-focused SaaS companies to examine the impact
of end market dynamics on capital efficiency. As we will discuss throughout this report, vertically-focused SaaS
companies tend to grow more efficiently. The median ratio for vertically-focused SaaS companies was 287%, as
compared to 168% for the horizontally-focused SaaS companies. Further, 75% of the vertical providers achieved
greater than 100%, while only 59% of horizontal providers exceeded this benchmark.
11
Note: If more than one data point was available, a range is used. TTM revenue in Ms.
$0-$5
$5-$15
$15-$30
$30-$50
$50-$75
$75-$100
High
959%
331%
728%
374%
470%
667%
3rd Quartile
26%
60%
77%
104%
128%
179%
Median
19%
34%
53%
68%
91%
126%
1st Quartile
9%
20%
40%
50%
65%
85%
Low
2%
7%
7%
16%
15%
17%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
120%
140%
160%
180%
Capital Efficiency %Exhibit 3A. Cumulative Capital Efficiency (%)
12
Exhibit 3B compares the growth rates and funding characteristics of companies that went public prior to 2011 to those
that went public after 2011. Post-2011 IPOs are raising more than 40% more capital to reach $15 million and again to
reach $30 million in revenue. Despite raising significantly more capital capital, companies that went public after 2011
only demonstrated moderately higher growth rates through $50 million in revenue and actually 14% less growth
directly prior to IPO.
However, even though post-2011 companies have raised more than twice that of pre-2011 companies, their growth
rates are lower than the pre-2011 cohort at IPO by 14%. More and more, proceeds from these financings are being
utilized less efficiently and/or going to fund liquidity for shareholders instead of growth initiatives. We suspect that
the big discrepancy in funding between pre-and post-2011 companies is also tied to the prevalence of large pre-IPO
rounds, which have become increasingly common as private markets have supported secondary liquidity needs.
Large institutional fund investors are going down market to invest in earlier stage companies as evident in that post-
2011 companies raise an average $6 million more before reaching $5 million in revenue. Given the relative size of
these funds, their strategy typically entails funding companies with large initial investments (often greater than $30
million). However, these companies are often sub-$30 million in revenue and struggle to put invested equity to work
efficiently. As a result, overfunding often leads to suboptimal unit economics and less attractive return on invested
capital.
Although this dynamic has been prevalent over the past few years, we suspect that the artificial friction created by
minimum check size requirements will lead to poor outcomes for funds and entrepreneurs. Long-term, if larger
rounds are not translating into more rapid or more efficient growth (as seen in Exhibit 3B), we believe that market
dynamics will change. In our 2014 report, we projected this same theory, though the trend of raising more money has
continued, while growth rates have still yet to improve.
< $5M
$5M - $15M
$15M - $30M
$30M - $50M
Pre-IPO
Pre-2011 Median Capital Raised
$13.7
$32.1
$36.9
$41.6
$41.6
Post-2011 Median Capital Raised
$20.1
$27.9
$52.7
$59.1
$90.4
Pre-2011 4-Year Growth Rates
98%
60%
40%
33%
50%
Post-2011 4-Year Growth Rates
117%
79%
50%
38%
44%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
120%
140%
$-
$10.0
$20.0
$30.0
$40.0
$50.0
$60.0
$70.0
$80.0
$90.0
$100.0
3B. Growth Rates vs. Capital Raised
0.0x
1.0x
2.0x
3.0x
4.0x
5.0x
6.0x
7.0x
8.0x
9.0x
EV / TTM Revenue 13
SaaS Public Company Valuation Metrics
Exhibit 4A demonstrates that public market SaaS valuations have cooled off since reaching a post-recession peak
in 2014. Nonetheless, SaaS companies continue to trade at higher multiples than traditional on-premise software
companies, which typically command valuations in the 2x-3x revenue range.
The decrease in SaaS valuation multiples is partially attributable to stock market cyclicality. We are also seeing
more public SaaS companies generate positive EBITDA, reflecting the market's desire for SaaS companies to
demonstrate profitability.
Source: Software Equity Group
Exhibit 4A: Median Public Company Revenue Multiples Since Q4'07
14
SaaS Public Company Valuation Metrics Continued
While revenue growth continues to be the primary driver of valuation, it appears that the market is starting to
price and reward efficient growth and not growth at all costs. Over the past few years, the industry has come up
with the "Rule of 40" as a way to measure and compare growth. The rule of 40 is simple to calculate: Add revenue
growth percentage to your EBITDA margins percentage. Ideally you want to be greater than 40% or close to 40%
as possible. As an example, a company with topline growth of 60% and 20% negative EBITDA losses is growing
more efficiently than a company with 70% revenue growth and 50% EBITDA losses. We applied the rule of 40 to
the 63 active public SaaS companies and saw meaningful correlation as follows:
10 companies that scored 40% or greater averaged revenue multiples of 6.4x TTM revenue;
26 companies that scored between 20% - 40% averaged revenue multiples of 5.3x TTM revenue;
19 companies that scored between 0% - 20% averaged revenue multiples of 3.8x TTM revenue;
8 companies that scored less than 0% averaged revenue multiples of 1.9x TTM revenue.
1.9x
3.8x
5.3x
6.4x
0.0x
1.0x
2.0x
3.0x
4.0x
5.0x
6.0x
7.0x
< 0%
0 - 20%
20% - 40%
> 40%
EV / Revenue Multiple Revenue Growth % + EBITDA Margin %
4B. Revenue growth % + EBITDA % vs. Valuation Multiple
As mentioned earlier, revenue growth is one of the primary valuation drivers for SaaS companies. Other valuation
drivers for SaaS companies include scale, leadership position, gross margins, customer acquisition costs, retention
rates, pricing power (e.g., switching costs and ability to upsell), and free cash flow margin potential.
Exhibits 4C and 4D demonstrate the correlation between revenue growth and revenue multiples. Exhibits 4C and 4D
show that the valuation premium for higher growth is significant; companies with 10% growth trade at 2x revenue,
while companies with 25%-40% growth trade around 4x - 6x revenue. As growth rates exceed 40%, revenue multiples
begin to flatten out, partially due to the discount at which earlier stage companies trade relative to their more mature
peers. In our data set, companies with 40%+ growth had average revenue of $246 million, less than half the average
for the rest of the sample ($523 million).
15
Source: Pitchbook Data as of Q4 2016
Note: Excludes WDAY and VEEV with EV / revenue multiples greater than 10.0x.
TWOU
AMBR
APPF
ATHN
TEAM
BV
BNFT
CALD
CARB
CSLT
ECOM
CSOD
EBIX
ELLI
FEYE
FIVN
HSTM
HDP
HUBS
INST
IL
JIVE
LOCK
LOGM
MDSO
MB
MIME
NEWR
PAYC
PCTY
PFPT
QTWO
QLYS
RP
RNG
CRM
NOW
SHOP
SPSC
SNCR
DATA
TNGO
APIC
ULTI
UPLD
WAGE
WK XTLY
ZEN
ZIXI
APTI
BL
COUP
TWLO
0.0x
1.0x
2.0x
3.0x
4.0x
5.0x
6.0x
7.0x
8.0x
9.0x
10.0x
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
Enterprise Value / TTM RevenueTTM YoY Revenue Growth
Exhibit 4C. Public SaaS Company Revenue Multiples Vs. Growth
Valuation Drivers
0.0x
1.0x
2.0x
3.0x
4.0x
5.0x
6.0x
<10%
10%-25%
25%-40%
>40%
Exhibit 4D: YOY Growth vs. Valuation Multiples
Median Valuation Multiples: Total
Median Valuation Multiples: Under $250M Revenue
Source: Pitchbook Data as of Q4 2016
SaaS M&A Valuation Metrics
Public company SaaS multiples are not necessarily reflective of private market valuation dynamics due to differences in
market liquidity, profit measurement, capital structure, risk profile, etc. To better gauge more realistic valuation
expectations for private companies, we turn our attention to SaaS M&A trends.
As shown in Exhibit 5A, M&A valuation multiples peaked in 2007 at 5.3x and declined to 3.6x in 2013. Multiples have
plateaued with the median 2016 revenue multiple being 3.8x. Note, however, that Exhibits 5A and 5B represent only a
self-reported universe of transactions (likely the most successful) and that a majority of smaller, less-successful
outcomes do not report deal statistics, suggesting the true median revenue multiples are likely lower.
When looking at the above universe of transactions, while on the rise, it is clear that the median enterprise value at
exit is still well below $250M. As noted by the orange line, the rate of M&A transactions has also been on the rise
since 2009. Finally, inherent in the above data is that most successful exits are happening when companies achieve
scale, though revenue at exit has decreased from about $50M in 2012 to only $31M in 2016.
16
Source: Software Equity Group Software Industry Financial Report
Source: Software Equity Group Software Industry Financial Report
5.30x
3.80x
5.11x
3.74x
3.71x
3.70x
3.60x
4.00x
3.82x
3.80x
0.0x
1.0x
2.0x
3.0x
4.0x
5.0x
6.0x
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
5A. Median EV/TTM Revenue Multiple
$158
$73
$128
$68
$97
$169
$225
$158
$96
$160
$30
$20
$30
$24
$26
$50
$47
$24
$31
$31
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
$0.00
$50.00
$100.00
$150.00
$200.00
$250.00
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
5B. Median Enterprise Value & TTM Revenue
Enterprise Value
TTM Revenue
# of Deals
Key Operating Metrics
This section of the report is designed to assist management teams in thinking through operating metrics and corporate
initiatives as they scale their companies.
In particular, we have highlighted benchmarks for revenue growth, gross
margins, sales & marketing investments, research & development funding, general & administrative expenses, capital
expenditures and EBITDA margins. These benchmarks are based on an analysis of the 92 public SaaS vendors and
reflect their performance when they were generating less than $100 million in revenue.
Revenue Growth
Revenue growth is one of the most important considerations when valuing SaaS companies.
Because RCCF's
investment strategy focuses on investing in growth-stage companies, we analyzed the revenue CAGR (compound
annual growth rate) for a four-year period starting from the year in which the companies (now public) were generating
sub-$5 million, $5-$15 million, $15- $30 million, $30-$50 million, $50-$70 million, and $75-$100 million in revenue. As
an example, we looked at Workday for the four years following the year the company posted $6.4 million in TTM
revenue. Workday generated an impressive 156% CAGR to achieve TTM revenue of $273.7 million four years later.
Exhibit 6 reveals that more than half of the 25 SaaS companies included in the sub-$5 million data range achieved
greater than 100% CAGR over the four years immediately following the year in which they posted sub-$5 million in
TTM revenue. Of course, the law of small numbers is in effect at this stage of development, and it is obviously much
harder to sustain these growth rates as companies scale. The median four-year CAGR drops to 76% when considering
the four years immediately following the year in which these companies achieved greater than $5 million but less than
$15 million in TTM revenue. The median drops further to 44% when considering the four-year period immediately
following the year in which these companies achieved greater than $15 million but less than $30 million in TTM
revenue. Between $30 and $50 million in revenue, companies demonstrate the lowest level of growth, a median of
35%.
From the year in which they posted sub-$5 million in TTM revenue, public SaaS companies took an average of six years
to achieve greater than $100 million in sales. Salesforce and DealerTrack were the top performers, taking only four
years to exceed $100 million in TTM revenue. Meanwhile, Concur, Ultimate Software and Vocus each took 11 years to
reach the $100 million revenue mark.
17
$0-$5
$5-$15
$15-$30
$30-$50
$50-$75
High
208%
156%
117%
107%
208%
Top Quartile
130%
85%
59%
44%
78%
Median
111%
76%
44%
35%
47%
Lower Quartile
93%
57%
36%
25%
35%
Low
44%
20%
16%
6%
12%
Count
25
46
54
50
50
10%
30%
50%
70%
90%
110%
130%
4-Year Revenue CAGR (%)Exhibit 6: Four-Year Revenue CAGR (%)
Renewal & Churn Rates
Renewal rates measure retention of customers and revenue. Retention metrics are critical for SaaS companies, as
churn directly impacts growth rates. Additionally, the impact of churn becomes more profound as SaaS companies
scale. For example, a $50 million SaaS company with 20% churn can add an impressive $20 million of new business
and still achieve only 20% growth.
If churn were only 5%, the company would have grown 35% with the same
bookings.
Better performing private SaaS companies typically achieve customer renewal rates north of 85% and revenue renewal
rates close to 100%, depending on the business model. As a general rule, SaaS providers selling into the enterprise
market typically experience less churn than those selling into the SMB market. Enterprise SaaS solutions inherently
have more tentacles into the IT infrastructure than SMB solutions. SMB customers manage a less sophisticated tech
infrastructure, tend to switch suppliers more frequently, are more focused on cost vs. breadth of platform and tend to
go out of business more frequently.
For enterprise-focused providers, it is worth noting that IT departments are increasingly consolidating relationships
with third-party vendors, so a provider's ability to expand its service offerings and act as a unified platform for multiple
services will significantly improve renewal rates.
We provide a detailed example of measuring churn, a cohort analysis and other sales and marketing metrics in the
appendix of this report.
18
Gross Margins
SaaS vendors get the most operating leverage by deploying a single-instance, multi-tenant architecture, which means
they manage one codebase across an entire installed customer base. Cost savings include shared hardware, software
and maintenance costs, which are significantly lower for SaaS businesses due to ease of deployment. Software
upgrades and bug fixes are deployed against one instance for thousands of customers as opposed to supporting
thousands of instances.
Cost of revenue for a SaaS company typically includes hosting cost, third-party software cost, data fee, implementation
and on-boarding / personnel cost related to customer support or maintaining the production environment. The
treatment of other personnel cost involved in account management or customer success roles varies across companies
as there are no specific GAAP rules defining cost of revenue. We guide companies to not include the cost of account
reps or customer success if they carry an up-sell / cross-sell quota, suggesting instead that they should be included in
sales and marketing. On the other hand if they don't carry any sales quota, we recommend that the cost of account
management reps and customer success be included in cost of revenue. Public companies tend to allocate a portion of
their overhead to cost of revenue based on headcount.
A typical SaaS company has gross margins in the 50% - 70% range. As the installed base grows, these companies can
share fixed infrastructure costs, such as hosting expenses, across more clients and achieve higher margins. The exhibit
above demonstrates that sub-$5 million SaaS companies typically generate gross margins in the 20% - 65% range.
Margins consistently grow to more than 60% once companies exceed $15 million in revenue, and top quartile
companies achieve gross margins north of 70% once they achieve material scale (>$15 million in revenue).
Note: If more than one data point was available, a range is used.
19
$0-$5
$5-$15
$15-$30
$30-$50
$50-$75
$75-$100
High
99%
85%
94%
96%
95%
88%
3rd Quartile
65%
65%
73%
71%
73%
75%
Median
52%
49%
61%
62%
63%
68%
1st Quartile
20%
34%
54%
53%
56%
60%
Low
-91%
-77%
-18%
-76%
27%
36%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
Gross Margin %Exhibit 7: Gross Margins
Sales & Marketing Effectiveness
Particular attention in this study is given to identifying important sales and marketing operating metrics that help
assess a company's efficiency and effectiveness. Sales and marketing is typically the largest and, as seen below, most
widely variable expense component of a SaaS company's cost structure.
Note: If more than one data point was available, a range is used.
20
Sales and marketing expenses range from just 12% of revenue to 154% of revenue for companies between $30 and
$50 million in revenue. With scale, sales and marketing investment tends to represent a lower percentage of revenue. As
shown above, companies with less than $5 million in revenue tend to spend 69% - 201% of those dollars on sales and
marketing. By the time companies generate more than $50 million, the percentage of revenue dedicated to sales and
marketing drops to 27% - 51%.
Worth noting, at the median level, horizontal companies tend to spend 15% - 20% more on sales and marketing as a
percentage of revenue than vertically focused companies until about $30 million in revenue is achieved. At scale, the gap
narrows as vertical solutions seem to increase their sales and marketing spend in comparison to the horizontal solutions.
A likely reason for this dynamic is that vertical solutions greater than $30 million in revenue start looking at adjacent
markets and/or new geographies as means to expand their total addressable markets.
$0-$5
$5-$15
$15-$30
$30-$50
$50-$75
$75-$100
High
509%
260%
246%
154%
169%
90%
3rd Quartile
201%
99%
76%
58%
51%
51%
Median
117%
78%
47%
42%
39%
39%
1st Quartile
69%
59%
35%
30%
27%
29%
Low
38%
23%
12%
12%
12%
7%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Sales & Marketing %Exhibit 8: Sales and Marketing as a % of Revenue
Return on Sales & Marketing Investment
Best-of-breed
SaaS
companies
achieve
payback on sales and marketing investment
in less than 24 months. Essentially, 24-month
payback equates to a 50% ROI on invested
capital; a 12-month payback represents 100%
ROI. Payback is simply calculated by taking
sales and marketing spend for a defined
period and dividing it by the respective
period's
incremental gross margin.
By
measuring payback on gross margin (vs.
revenue),
this
calculation
takes
into
consideration the company's churn.
Believing that 12-24 month payback on sales
and marketing is attractive, River Cities
advises companies to accelerate their sales
and marketing
spend when
they are
achieving those results.
If payback rises to
more than two years, companies should
consider alternate spend initiatives to drive
more efficient growth.
Note: If more than one data point was available, a range is used.
21
As evidenced in Exhibit 9A, in general, as SaaS companies scale their revenue, it becomes harder and harder to grow
efficiently. Once SaaS companies achieve a critical mass of $100 million in TTM revenue, they often look to sustain top-
line growth by expanding into adjacent markets or introducing new offerings. These activities tend to increase
spending and the implied cost required to add $1 million of revenue.
Exhibit 9B highlights the cost to acquire $1 million in revenue and gross profit in 2016 by size, providing insight into the
recent sales and marketing effectiveness of active SaaS companies. To account for revenue generated through
acquisition, we have included the acquisition price in the cost of sales and marketing. In River Cities' 2014 SaaS
Benchmarking, we reported that the median cost to acquire $1 million in gross profit was $2.7 million; this figure has
decreased to $2.4 million in this year's study, suggesting that SaaS companies are becoming more effective in
deploying sales and marketing resources.
$0-$5
$5-$15 $15-$30 $30-$50 $50-$75
$75-
$100
High
74.2
79.7
275.1
81.2
92.7
141.7
3rd Quartile
62.4
34.1
33.2
33.2
30.2
31.4
Median
50.5
22.1
25.2
23.2
22.1
22.9
1st Quartile
38.6
16.7
14.5
14.9
17.3
17.5
Low
26.8
7.3
6.2
6.3
4.2
5.4
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
Payback (Months)Exhibit 9A: Payback on Sales and Marketing (Months)
$1.54
$2.42
$1.97
$2.97
$-
$0.50
$1.00
$1.50
$2.00
$2.50
$3.00
$3.50
Cost to Acquire $1M in Rev. ($ in M)
Cost to Acquire $1M in GP ($ in M)
Exhibit 9B: Cost to Acquire
$1M in Revenue and GP by Size
<$100M in Revenue
>$100M in Revenue
22
Sales & Marketing for Horizontally- vs. Vertically-Focused SaaS Companies
$5-$15
$15-$30
$30-$50
$50-$75
$75-$100
High
45.5
35.9
79.1
57.1
75.1
3rd Quartile
26.5
27.2
28.7
27.1
30.0
Median
23.9
14.6
20.1
19.2
22.5
1st Quartile
21.8
7.6
12.4
13.8
18.0
Low
7.3
7.0
6.4
4.2
14.1
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
# of MonthsExhibit 9D: S&M Payback (Vertical)
$5-$15
$15-$30
$30-$50
$50-$75
$75-$100
High
50.6
75.9
79.1
92.7
141.7
3rd Quartile
36.4
34.5
33.5
30.7
33.0
Median
21.8
26.0
25.2
22.7
24.6
1st Quartile
16.6
17.9
17.2
17.7
17.7
Low
12.2
6.2
6.3
4.2
5.4
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
# of MonthsExhibit 9E: S&M Payback (Horizontal)
Note: If more than one data point was available, a range is used.
$1.70
$2.64
$1.41
$2.28
0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
3.00
Cost to Acquire $1M in Rev.
($ in M)
Cost to Acquire $1M in GP
($ in M)
Exhibit 9C. Cost to Acquire
$1M in Revenue and GP by Type
Horizontal
Vertical
Vertically-focused companies tend to see more
efficient results on their sales and marketing spend
than horizontally-focused companies. The efficiency
of vertically-focused SaaS providers is evident in
Exhibit 9C, which shows that horizontal players spend
more, on average, to acquire $1 million of revenue or
gross profit. Looking at Exhibits 9D and 9E below,
this
is clear for both the median and quartile
statistics; for example, vertically-focused companies
in the $15-$30 million revenue range see payback
periods nearly 12 months shorter
than their
horizontal counterparts.
Horizontal companies,
however, do see an improvement in sales and
marketing payback as they grow, with the gap
between the payback periods shrinking as revenue
scales.
Research & Development
In many regards, it has never been easier to launch a software company. With SaaS, there is no need to invest upfront
capital to buy servers and other hardware components. Cloud hosting services and open source software have
significantly reduced the upfront capital required to achieve early proof points and product-market fit.
Note: If more than one data point was available, a range is used.
23
Highly-technical and highly-priced solutions with fewer customers require relatively higher R&D investment. As seen in
Exhibit 10A, companies spend more on product development early in their life cycle (as a percentage of revenue).
Companies with less than $5 million in revenue reinvest 63% of sales (median) into R&D; the percentage decreases to
17% (median) by the time companies reach $75-$100 million in revenue. Half of the companies in our data set spent less
than 20% of revenue on R&D once they achieved scale ($30-$50 million in revenue).
$0-$5
$5-$15
$15-$30
$30-$50
$50-$75
$75-$100
High
448%
404%
119%
98%
58%
175%
3rd Quartile
163%
57%
33%
29%
27%
24%
Median
63%
42%
23%
20%
19%
17%
1st Quartile
38%
24%
15%
15%
13%
11%
Low
18%
4%
2%
2%
2%
2%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
R&D %Exhibit 10A: Research & Development as a % of Revenue
As evidenced in Exhibit 10B, there has been an uptick in
R&D spend in recent years. Companies that went public
since 2011 spent roughly 10% more of revenue on R&D
than companies that went public prior to 2011. We
attribute this trend to an increase in competition and the
over funding of certain sectors like sales and marketing.
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
$5-$15
$15-$30
$30-$50
$50-$75
$75-$100
Exhibit 10B: R&D as a % of Revenue Across
Time
Pre-2011
Post-2011
General & Administrative
As expected, a company's relative investment in G&A expense declines with scale. For companies with less than $5
million in revenue, the median investment in overhead is 45% of sales, and a quarter of public SaaS companies spent
more than 80% of revenue on G&A expense in their early stages of development. Typically, as companies raise capital
and go to market with new offerings, investment in high-quality executives outpaces revenue growth. During the early
days, SaaS companies are establishing a foundation for growth with the anticipation that they will benefit from
economies of scale.
Not surprisingly, G&A expense as a percentage of revenue levels off as SaaS companies approach $30 million in sales.
From there, the median investment in G&A is relatively stable and hovers in the 17% to 20% range, with +/-5%
deviations in the second and third quartiles.
24
Note: If more than one data point was available, a range is used.
$0-$5
$5-$15
$15-$30
$30-$50
$50-$75
$75-$100
High
268%
126%
51%
66%
43%
42%
3rd Quartile
80%
45%
27%
24%
23%
21%
Median
45%
28%
20%
19%
17%
17%
1st Quartile
30%
21%
15%
14%
13%
14%
Low
14%
5%
7%
7%
3%
7%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
50%
G&A %Exhibit 11: G&A Expense as a % of Revenue
Capital Expenditure
With fewer and fewer SaaS companies delivering applications via self-managed servers, capital expenses are becoming
a much less burdensome line item on the cash flow statement. In Pacific Crest's 2016 SaaS survey, 67% of private
company participants surveyed leveraged third-party hosting (mostly Amazon Web Services), and an additional 12%
expected to migrate off of self-managed servers within the next three years.
Not only are capital expenses declining as a result of Infrastructure-as-a-Service, but SaaS companies also have
relatively fixed annual capital investment requirements. For companies with $5 million to $50 million of revenue,
annual capital expenses tend to be in the $1 million to $2 million range. As a result, capital expenditure as a
percentage of revenue decreases significantly with scale. Once SaaS companies grow beyond $30 million of revenue,
most invest less than 8% of sales back into capital purchases.
25
$0-$5
$5-$15
$15-$30
$30-$50
$50-$75
$75-$100
High
118%
108%
72%
44%
39%
46%
3rd Quartile
53%
19%
13%
12%
10%
12%
Median
29%
11%
6%
6%
6%
8%
1st Quartile
22%
7%
4%
4%
5%
6%
Low
10%
1%
1%
1%
1%
1%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
% CapexExhibit 12: Capex as % of Revenue
Profitability
Most high growth SaaS companies aggressively reinvest cash flow into research and development and sales and
marketing.
Revenue growth is typically more accretive than cash flow generation, particularly early in the
development cycle. Today, SaaS unit economics are well understood and easily digested. As a result, the investor
community has embraced cash burn when market dynamics and unit economics (sales and marketing efficiency,
retention, etc.) support increased investment.
Not surprisingly, most public SaaS companies were unprofitable as they scaled to $50 million in sales. Between $15
million and $30 million in revenue, only seven of the 57 companies included in this data set achieved positive EBITDA
margins. At the time of their IPOs, only 43% of SaaS companies reported positive EBITDA margins.
26
$0-$5
$5-$15
$15-$30
$30-$50
$50-$75
$75-$100
High
899%
20%
29%
26%
72%
41%
3rd Quartile
-9%
-10%
-2%
9%
10%
14%
Median
-103%
-59%
-23%
-9%
-2%
4%
1st Quartile
-248%
-143%
-55%
-36%
-18%
-23%
Low
-951%
-539%
-285%
-355%
-158%
-80%
-100%
-80%
-60%
-40%
-20%
0%
20%
EBITDA %Exhibit 13: EBITDA Margin
Looking Ahead
Room to Run: Verticalization of SaaS
SaaS adoption continues to increase at a rapid pace; Gartner estimates that the SaaS market will grow at 19.7% CAGR
through 2019. Capital constraints and the need for organizations to maintain flexibility will continue to amplify the
advantages of outsourced subscription models relative to traditional on-premise implementations. As a result, there is
still significant upside for SaaS applications, especially for niche verticals that have historically been slower to adopt
technology. River Cities considers this influx of technology adoption in vertical segments the next wave of SaaS with
the first phase being typified by functional solutions across many verticals.
From the customer point of view, the biggest measurable benefit of vertical SaaS is that an industry specific solution
significantly reduces the need for customization. This not only saves money but more importantly accelerates time to
value. As a result, customers are willing to pay a premium for solutions tailored to their industry needs. The vertical
focus also provides a lower customer acquisition cost (CAC). Where horizontal solution providers can spend 1x - 3x the
annual contract value acquiring a customer, vertical solution providers can acquire customers as low as
1
4
x the annual
contract value. Given this dynamic, vertical SaaS providers have the ability to achieve profitability earlier in the
lifecycle than does a horizontal provider, helping further mitigate risk.
Infrastructure-as-a-Service
Consistent with many other non-core business functions, outsourcing technology infrastructure has become standard
practice. Amazon, Microsoft and Google cracked the code on cheaply and effectively moving core IT functions out of
company datacenters and into the public "cloud" including basic computing, networking and storage.
With cloud computing, customers pay as they go for computing power, which translates into substantial benefits for
businesses, including reduction in hosting and equipment costs, increased capacity and productivity all at a time when
we have seen an exponential growth in corporate data. This dynamic has also fundamentally reduced the barriers to
entry for new software as a service companies. Where early SaaS companies invested tens of millions upfront in data
center hardware and other infrastructure, today that's mostly consumed on a pay as you go basis, eliminating hefty
upfront costs. The consequence of this has been a proliferation of point solutions that reach a few million of revenue,
but struggle to reach meaningful scale.
Next Phase of Data and Analytics
As businesses increasingly move their data into hosted environments, there will be opportunities for SaaS vendors to
extend the application layer and deliver more value to the customer. Vendors who leverage data science and machine
intelligence will become better partners, and integrating data from different departments (and thus different
applications) will allow vendors to deliver more valuable insights.
In 2016, the progressive shift over the years from IT-led reporting to business-led self-service analytics passed the
tipping point, empowering the business users with advanced, statistically sound business analytics for simple,
actionable and relevant decision-making. Data will become a strategic asset to the enterprise and analytics will enable
the organization to distinguish the signals from the noise and focus on the outcomes that matter, resulting in solid
business ROI.
River Cities' thought leadership, portfolio company experience and SaaS investment success provide the firm with a
unique perspective around strategic issues faced by SaaS companies. Continued focus on the firm's knowledgebase
further supports River Cities' efforts to quickly assess prospective SaaS portfolio companies as well as make solid fact-
based recommendations to existing portfolio companies.
27
The information contained in this report is obtained from sources we believe to be reliable, but no representation or
guarantee is made about the accuracy or completeness of such information, or the opinions expressed herein. Nothing
in this report Is intended to be recommendation of a specific security or company or intended to constitute an offer to
buy or sell, or the solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, any security. This report may not be reproduced in whole or in
part without the expressed prior written authorization of River Cities Capital Funds.
29
Measuring Churn
There are a variety of ways churn can
be measured and analyzed. Below we
detail a couple of approaches:
Rolling 12-Month Basis
The rolling 12-month basis calculates
annual churn by annualizing each
month's dollar churn. Monthly dollar
churn is calculated by dividing the
current monthly dollar churn as a % of
the previous month's revenue. As an
example, in Month 2, the business lost
$4,261 of revenue, equating to 0.9%
monthly churn.
To calculate annualized churn as of Month 13, we annualize the monthly dollar churn through Month 13 and divide it
by total TTM revenue as of Month 13. For example, in Month 2 the business lost $4,261 in revenue or $51,132
($4,261 X 12) of annualized revenue. In sum, the business churned $367,723 in annualized revenue, amounting to an
annualized churn rate of 5.1%.
Period
Billed
Revenue
Monthly
Churn $
Monthly
Churn %
Annualized Churn
Month 1
$500,000
Month 2
$515,236
$4,261
0.9%
$51,132
Month 3
$530,693
$4,531
0.9%
$49,841
Month 4
$541,307
$4,185
0.8%
$41,850
Month 5
$568,372
$4,956
0.9%
$44,604
Month 6
$608,158
$5,687
1.0%
$45,496
Month 7
$632,485
$3,256
0.5%
$22,792
Month 8
$645,134
$4,778
0.8%
$28,668
Month 9
$651,586
$6,850
1.1%
$34,250
Month 10
$648,328
$4,489
0.7%
$17,956
Month 11
$667,778
$5,458
0.8%
$16,374
Month 12
$681,133
$4,158
0.6%
$8,316
Month 13
$6,444
0.9%
$6,444
$7,190,210
$59,053
0.8%
$367,723
5.1%
Renewal & Churn Rates
30
Cohort Analysis
Analyzing churn through a cohort analysis (with each cohort being the group of customers who launched in the same
month) can provide a more granular look at retention. Often, SaaS companies lose a big portion of their churned
customers in the first few months due to lack of adoption. Once customers reach a certain time-based milestone,
churn might stabilize at a lower level. If this is the case, focusing on account management and support in the initial
months of a customer's life may improve unit economics materially. The following is a sample cohort analysis:
The above graph depicts cohort MRR and how it grows or churns over time.
In this analysis, the business added
$3,363 of new MRR in Month 1 and retained ~78% of it at the end of 12 months. In contrast, in Month 6, the business
added $2,891 of new MRR, which grew to $3,209, representing 11% expansion within a six-month period. This kind of
analysis can be helpful in analyzing how churn varies across time and how churn is changing with newer customers.
Note: Data is hypothetical.
12-Month MRR Cohort Analysis
Month
New
MRR
Jan-17 Feb-17 Mar-17 Apr-17 May-17
Jun-17
Jul-17 Aug-17 Sep-17 Oct-13 Nov-17 Dec-17
Jan-17
$3,363 $3,296
$3,230
$3,165
$3,102
$3,040
$2,979
$2,919
$2,861
$2,804
$2,748
$2,693
$2,639
Feb-17
$2,880
$2,837
$2,795
$2,753
$2,711
$2,671
$2,631
$2,591
$2,552
$2,514
$2,476
$2,439
Mar-17
$3,946
$3,906
$3,867
$3,829
$3,790
$3,752
$3,715
$3,678
$3,641
$3,605
$3,568
Apr-17
$4,139
$4,119
$4,098
$4,078
$4,057
$4,037
$4,017
$3,997
$3,977
$3,957
May-17
$2,941
$2,956
$2,971
$2,985
$3,000
$3,015
$3,030
$3,046
$3,061
Jun-17
$2,891
$2,934
$2,978
$3,023
$3,068
$3,114
$3,161
$3,209
Jul-17
$3,832
$3,909
$3,987
$4,067
$4,148
$4,231
$4,316
Aug-17
$5,576
$5,716
$5,859
$6,005
$6,155
$6,309
Sep-17
$8,047
$8,289
$8,537
$8,793
$9,057
Oct-17
$3,871
$4,025
$4,186
$4,354
Nov-17
$4,142
$4,328
$4,523
Dec-17
$7,041
$7,393
$3,296
$6,067
$9,866 $13,841 $16,634 $19,423 $23,232 $28,930 $37,349 $41,760 $46,651 $54,824
% of Retained MRR in Lifetime Month
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Jan-17
$3,363 98.00% 96.04% 94.12% 92.24% 90.39% 88.58% 86.81% 85.08% 83.37% 81.71% 80.07% 78.47%
Feb-17
$2,880 98.50% 97.02% 95.57% 94.13% 92.72% 91.33% 89.96% 88.61% 87.28% 85.97% 84.68%
Mar-17
$3,946 99.00% 98.01% 97.03% 96.06% 95.10% 94.15% 93.21% 92.27% 91.35% 90.44%
Apr-17
$4,139 99.50% 99.00% 98.51% 98.01% 97.52% 97.04% 96.55% 96.07% 95.59%
May-17
$2,941 100.50% 101.00% 101.51% 102.02% 102.53% 103.04% 103.55% 104.07%
Jun-17
$2,891 101.50% 103.02% 104.57% 106.14% 107.73% 109.34% 110.98%
Jul-17
$3,832 102.00% 104.04% 106.12% 108.24% 110.41% 112.62%
Aug-17
$5,576 102.50% 105.06% 107.69% 110.38% 113.14%
Sep-17
$8,047 103.00% 106.09% 109.27% 112.55%
Oct-17
$3,871 104.00% 108.16% 112.49%
Nov-17
$4,142 104.50% 109.20%
Dec-17
$7,041 105.00%
101.97% 103.07% 103.77% 103.92% 102.03% 99.40% 96.42% 93.18% 89.89% 86.29% 82.20% 78.47%
Another way to understand the unit economics of a SaaS business is to look at the lifetime value of a typical customer
(LTV) and the cost to acquire that customer (CAC).
For illustrative purposes, let's say that a SaaS business has the
following metrics:
Sales and marketing cost:
$200k a month
New customers added every month:
100
Average Revenue per Account:
$100
Monthly Churn:
1%
Formulas
Customer Acquisition Cost = Total sales and marketing cost / # of new customers acquired
LTV = Average recurring per account (ARPU) / Churn
LTV (adjusted for gross margin) = Average gross margin per account / Churn
CAC Ratio = LTV / CAC
In the above example, CAC equates to $2,000 ($200,000 / 100), Lifetime value (LTV) of a customer amounts to $10,000
($100 / 0.01), and LTV adjusted for gross margin equates to $8,000 ($80 / 0.01). Finally, the CAC ratio is calculated by
dividing LTV by CAC, or $8,000 divided by $2,000, resulting in a CAC ratio of 4x. The ratio between CAC and LTV helps
us understand whether a company is making more profit from customers than it costs to acquire them. Solid
performing SaaS businesses have an LTV to CAC ratio higher than 3x at scale.
The graphic below depicts the above example and the relationship between LTV and CAC. As you can see, immediately
upon acquiring a customer, the business is in the red, having spent $2,000 to acquire that customer. As the customer
starts generating $80 in gross margin each month, the business climbs toward breakeven and eventually crosses that
threshold after 25 months. From there, the customer becomes profitable, and LTV increases until the customer
churns.
31
-$2,000
-$1,000
$0
$1,000
$2,000
$3,000
$4,000
$5,000
$6,000
$7,000
0
Year
1
Year
2
Year
3
Year
4
Year
5
Year
6
Year
7
Year
8
CAC Analysis
Other Sales and Marketing Metrics