Cloud Stocks and PaaS: Which SaaS Players Will Win in PaaS

At the end of 2020, I wrote Big Idea 2021: SaaS Companies Will Create 10 Million Jobs with the central thesis that SaaS players would evolve into PaaS to create deeper moats around their core market positions and gain access to the related force multiplier.

To recap on the assumptions:

• IF 1000 SaaS companies open up their platforms as a service, PaaS, as Salesforce.com does, by 2025
• IF each platform lets startups sell through its marketplace, as Salesforce.com does, by 2025
• IF each platform empowers 1000 startups to build on its stack by 2025

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IPOs 2021: CLEAR Looks Beyond the Aviation Sector

The global Biometrics-as-a-Service (BaaS) market is expected to grow at 20% CAGR from $1.5 billion in 2020 to $3.7 billion by 2025, driven by increasing use cases for data-security initiatives by governments and rising demand for robust fraud detection and prevention systems. CLEAR (NYSE: YOU), a provider of biometrics screening for security services, recently went public.

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IPOs 2021: Marqeta Needs to Diversify its Customer Base

The total addressable global market for card payments is $45 trillion and is expected to grow to $80 trillion by 2030 driven by emerging online FinTech players, including digital banks and other online and mobile services. Recently listed Marqeta (Nasdaq: MQ) is a leading card-issuing platform to these customers.

Cloud Stocks: HubSpot Becomes a Stickier Platform

Inbound marketing specialist HubSpot (NYSE:HUBS) recently reported its third quarter results that continued to surpass market expectations. HubSpot remains focused on its product strategy to ensure that it expands its reach in both small and large businesses.

IPOs 2021: Expensify’s Interesting Journey to an IPO

Earlier this month, expense management services provider Expensify (Nasdaq: EXFY) went public. I have had several interesting interactions with Expensify’s founder David Barrett, explaining his journey to setting up this multi-billion-dollar unicorn.

Cloud Stocks: Analysis of Zendesk’s $4.1B Momentive Acquisition

Zendesk (NYSE: ZEN), a leading complaint management services provider, recently announced its third-quarter results that continued to outpace the market’s forecast. The big news for Zendesk though was the $4 billion acquisition of Momentive announced last month.

Cloud Stocks: Shopify Expands PaaS Integrations

Earlier last month, Ontario-based Shopify (NYSE:SHOP) announced its quarterly results that missed market expectations. Shopify continues to invest in product upgrades while benefiting from social partnerships with players like TikTok, and several partner integrations.

IPOs 2021: Analysis of Toast’s xtraCHEF Acquisition

There are 22 million restaurant locations globally generating more than $2.6 trillion in annual sales in 2021. Within the US, there are approximately 860,000 restaurant locations. US restaurants generated nearly $700 billion in sales last year and are expected to grow to $1.1 trillion by 2024. Recently listed Toast (NYSE: TOST) is helping adapt the restaurant industry to the digital world.

IPOs 2021: SentinelOne Targets $40 Billion Market Opportunity

The global cyber security industry is expected to grow at 9.7% CAGR to reach $345.4 billion by 2026. Newly public Mountain View-based SentinelOne (NYSE:S) is expanding its partnerships and product offerings to grow its reach in the market.

IPOs 2021: Confluent Addresses $91B Market Opportunity

Mountain View-based Confluent (Nasdaq: CFLT) is a leading provider of Apache Kafka-based solutions addressing the $149B global application infrastructure & middleware, database management systems, data integration tools and data quality tools, and analytics and business intelligence markets.

IPOs 2021: Robinhood Makes it Easier for All to Invest

Palo Alto-based Robinhood (Nasdaq: HOOD) has been trying to make it easier for the average investor to invest in all financial markets – stocks, funds, and even cryptocurrency. The company went public earlier this year and recently reported its third-quarter results.