SaaS investors
SaaS investors back software companies that sell subscriptions to businesses. It is the sector with the most established playbook in venture, which means the metrics are standardised and the comparison set is large. A founder raising here is judged against thousands of companies that came before.
The firms on this list name enterprise software as a focus on their own website. Each cites its own site as the source for what is written here.
Founded in 2020 by brothers Ammar and Mohammed (Mo) Amdani, Adapt Ventures operates as a boutique early-stage venture firm and venture studio. The firm is known for its highly…
Alpha Wave is an investment company that has three main verticals; private equity, private credit, and public markets. The objective of the private equity partnerships is to invest in…
Goanna Capital focused on private companies in the global Internet, software, consumer, and financial technology industries. The company manages a large pool of discretionary capital…
International Blockchain Consulting, also known as IBC Group, is a venture capital firm and global consulting agency founded in 2017. Headquartered in London, United Kingdom, the firm…
KBW Ventures is an asset management company focusing exclusively on venture capital, value creation, and growth equity. It targets direct investments in some of the world's most…
One Way Ventures is a venture capital firm that backs exceptional immigrant founders. The firm engages with early-stage startups and invites founders who are starting up to pitch…
Portal Ventures is a fundamentals-driven early-stage crypto investment firm. The firm focuses on making investments in the cryptocurrency sector, emphasizing rigorous analysis and…
Presight Capital is a venture capital firm investing in the most ambitious founders across sectors, stages, and geographies. Presight takes a global approach to early-stage…
Quadri Ventures is a venture capital firm investing in enterprise software companies across the US and Europe. It focuses on providing capital to support the growth of…
Target Global is a pan-European technology investment firm with more than €3 billion in assets under management. The firm invests in technology companies and maintains an active…
TA Ventures is a venture capital firm that invests in ambitious early-stage technology startups. The firm focuses on sectors including HealthTech, FinTech, B2B software, and other…
Xploration Capital is an investment firm that backs ambitious founders building next-generation platforms, digital ecosystems, and SaaS companies worldwide. The firm emphasizes deep…
01 Advisors was founded in 2018 by former Twitter CEO Dick Costolo and former Twitter COO Adam Bain, later joined by former Facebook CRO David Fischer. Positioned as 'For Operators…
10x Founders is a network-driven investor backed by over 200 entrepreneurs and angels. The founding partners (Andreas Etten, Andrej Henkler, Claudius Jablonka, Felix Haas, Jan Becker…
Founded in 2012, 1818 Venture Capital is a Guernsey-based VC firm specialising in early-stage financial services innovation. The firm partners with ambitious founders building…
212 invests in growth-stage tech companies across Turkey, CEE, and MENA. Currently, our fund manages €75 million of committed capital, and 25 investments. Our strategy is to invest in…
Founded in 2018 by a group of seasoned executives including Steven Price and Matt Fremont-Smith, 25madison operates a unique, multi-pronged investment model. The firm incubates…
Founded in 2020 by former Rocket Internet executives Alexander Kudlich and Ludwig Ensthaler, alongside Mesosphere founder Florian Leibert, 468 Capital bridges the European and US tech…
4DX Ventures is a technology-focused investment firm active across Africa. The firm highlights more than 10 years of track record, over 50 portfolio companies, and operations in more…
500 Global is a multi-stage venture capital firm with US$2.4 billion in assets under management that invests in founders building fast-growing technology companies. We focus on…
Access Bridge Ventures is an early-stage venture capital fund investing in people and entrepreneurs, providing value add through regional networks, operational experience, strong…
Founded in 2019 by former Aspect Ventures and Accel partners, Acrew Capital is a multi-stage venture capital firm that emphasizes depth of conviction, emotional intelligence, and…
Activant is a global investment firm founded in 2015 with approximately $1.5 billion in assets under management. The firm partners with high-growth founders and teams that are…
Founded by former Tiger Global executive Lee Fixel, Addition is a prominent "Tiger Cub" venture capital firm based in New York. The firm is known for its highly centralized…
What SaaS investors look for
Recurring revenue that grows.
Annual or monthly recurring revenue, its growth rate, and the months behind it. Investors compare the trajectory to benchmarks for the stage and expect to see the numbers monthly.
Retention, gross and net.
Whether customers stay, and whether they spend more over time. Net revenue retention above one hundred percent means the existing base grows on its own, and it is the metric investors trust most.
Efficient acquisition.
The cost of winning a customer against what that customer is worth, and how long it takes to pay back. A short payback period means the company can grow without raising again soon.
A wedge and an expansion path.
One problem the product solves well enough to be bought, and a credible route to solving more for the same customer.
Sales that the founders understand.
Whether the product is bought through self-serve, an inside sales team or enterprise sales, the founders should know the motion, its cost and where it breaks.
Raising in SaaS
Because the metrics are standard, the process is efficient. An investor will ask for the same set of numbers from every company and will benchmark them the same way. A founder who arrives with those numbers ready and understood removes most of the friction.
Have ready: a monthly recurring revenue history, cohort retention, acquisition cost and payback by channel, a pipeline with stages, and gross margin. A model that projects from these numbers rather than from assumptions is what investors expect.
The competition question is sharper here than in most sectors. Investors will know the incumbents and the other startups in the category, and the pitch needs a specific answer for why customers choose this product.
Questions
What metrics do SaaS investors care about most?
Recurring revenue growth, net revenue retention, gross margin, customer acquisition cost and payback. The relative weight shifts by stage, with retention mattering more as the company grows.
What is net revenue retention?
Revenue from a set of existing customers a year later, including expansion and net of churn, divided by the revenue they produced at the start. Above one hundred percent means the base grows without new sales.
Do investors fund SaaS companies before revenue?
At pre-seed and sometimes seed, yes. From seed onward most SaaS investors expect paying customers, because the product is comparatively quick to build and the market is used to paying.
Is vertical SaaS still fundable?
Yes. Software built for one industry is a large part of the sector. Investors look at the size of the industry, how much of its spend the product can capture, and whether the company can expand into adjacent products for the same customers.
How do investors think about AI in SaaS?
As a feature set every incumbent will add, and as a threat where a general AI tool can replace the product. Founders should show what the product does that a model alone cannot.
SaaS investors by country
SaaS investors by city
SaaS investors by stage