PaaS: SaaS Companies NEED PaaS Strategy

I have been analyzing SaaS companies for over a decade. More recently, I have been looking into their acquisition strategies, as many have now reached critical mass and need to expand beyond the one product that made them successful to begin with.

Some clear trends are evident in the industry:

First, SaaS companies are acquiring capital efficient startups much more readily than heavily funded ones. Bootstrapped startups are particularly popular as acquisition targets. We’ve covered several prolific acquirers of small startups:

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Featured Videos

Twilio Closes the SendGrid Acquisition

Cloud computing software vendor Twilio (NYSE:TWLO) has had a phenomenal stock rally this year. In the last twelve months, the communications platform provider has seen its stock climb an impressive 250%. But analysts are beginning to wonder if the stock has reached its peak.

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What is Next for VMWare?

According to a Gartner report, VMWare (NYSE:VMW) accounts for 91% share of the virtualization infrastructure software market. Even after including vendors like Microsoft that provide virtual machine capabilities bundled with their other server offerings, VMWare still leads with about 60%-75% share of the market.

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Vernacular Social Media App ShareChat Reaches Deep into India

India is a diverse country with over 30 languages and over 1600 dialects. According to KPMG, Indian language Internet users are expected to grow at a CAGR of 18% to 536 million or nearly 75% of the Internet base in 2021. It is this untapped market that Indian social media platform ShareChat caters to. >>>

What More Can Palo Alto Acquire?

Last week, Santa Clara-based Palo Alto Networks (NYSE:PANW) announced its second quarter results that surpassed market expectations and sent the stock soaring to a record high. Its stock climbed 11% in reaction to the result. The company has been growing steadily not only through innovative product releases, but also by following an aggressive acquisition strategy. Since 2018, it has spent over a billion dollars in acquisition of other complementary players. And, with a cash and equivalents balance of over $1.1 billion, those acquisitions are expected to continue.

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How is Workday’s PaaS Strategy Coming Along?

According to a Market Research Future report published last year, the global Human Capital Management (HCM) market is estimated to grow 9% annually to reach $24 billion by 2023. Workday (NYSE: WDAY) may have started out as a HCM provider, but the company has diversified into enterprise services since and its growth continues to surpass market expectations.

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What SaaS Products Built on Salesforce.com’s PaaS Have Gained Substantial Traction?

Earlier this week, Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) announced its fourth quarter results. While the company outpaced market expectations for the quarter, its weak outlook has sent the stock falling. In the after hours trading session, its stock slipped 3%.

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Should Veeva do a PaaS Strategy?

According to a Zion market research report, the global healthcare cloud computing market is estimated to grow 19% annually over the next few years to $61.84 billion by 2025 from $18.85 billion in 2018 driven by the continued adoption of IoT, wearable devices, and big data analytics in the healthcare sector, and the continued demand for regulatory compliance. Pleasanton, California-based Veeva (NYSE: VEEV) recently announced its quarterly results that continued to benefit from this rapid growth.

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Is Druva Ready for an IPO?

According to a MarketsAndMarkets report, the cloud backup market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 26.1% from $1.30 billion in 2017 to $4.13 billion by 2022. A leading player in the space is data protection solutions provider Druva that recently made its first acquisition. >>>

Cloud Stocks: Open Platform Strategy Stands Intuit in Good Stead

It is tax season and initial reports suggest that there may be a slowdown in the e-filings. According to the IRS data through February 8^th, the total e-filed returns fell 7.1% and assisted e-files fell 12.5% over the year. The new tax legislation and the extended partial government shutdown is expected to have impacted consumer behavior. But the slowdown has not stopped Intuit’s (NASDAQ: INTU) stock from soaring to a record high post its second quarter results announcement.

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