Updated on by Fraser Davidson
In Q1 2020 we undertook an online assessment of 453 SaaS companies located in either the USA or Europe. The criteria for assessment were that they have raised over $1m of funding at some point in their history and that they still trade today. We used Crunchbase to compile the list of SaaS companies to assess, looking at the different approaches to native integration on either side of the Atlantic and the results are interesting……..
We will be releasing the results of this analysis across a few articles in the weeks ahead.
This first blog post looks at the difference in approach between USA SaaS co.s and EU SaaS co.s according to our findings.
Differences in SaaS Funding
Of the 453 SaaS companies analysed, 261 (57.6%) were from the USA and 192 (42.3%) from Europe which, in itself, is indicative of where the centre of gravity of funding for SaaS companies lies.
Doubling down on this there was a clear swing in total investment capital received with USA SaaSs receiving more funding relative to their European peers.
| $1m > $2m | $2m > $5m | $5m > $10m | $10m > $25m | $25m > $50m | |
| EU | 25.52% | 29.69% | 19.79% | 15.63% | 9.38% |
| USA | 9.20% | 18.39% | 20.69% | 27.20% | 24.52% |
| Grand Total | 16.11% | 23.18% | 20.31% | 22.30% | 18.10% |
So, in short, no surprises there. More USA SaaSs funded and also, on average, receive more capital when they are.
SaaS Native Integration Strategies
So what about relative approaches to native integration? Overall 66.7% (almost precisely 2/3) of all of those assessed promoted native integrations on their website. A nice round number and a clear majority. The other 1/3 were silent on the matter – surprising and we will do a deep dive on whether this is influenced by sector in a follow-on post.
66.7% DO feature native integrations on their website
33.3% DO NOT feature native integrations on their website
However, drilling into this headline statistic on a purely continental basis there is a difference. The USA SaaS’s won out. 69.0% of the USA SaaS companies published the availability of native integrations versus 63.5% of European SaaS companies. A reasonable swing.
| DO NOT feature native integrations | DO feature native integrations | |
| EU | 36.5% | 63.5% |
| USA | 31.0% | 69.0% |
| Grand Total | 33.33% | 66.67% |
Of those that do feature native integrations, we then dived a degree further to look at the volume of integrations promoted. Yet again the USA took a lead here. 38.9% of US SaaS’s promoted >20 native integrations compared to only 30.8% of EU SaaS companies. Reversing this statistic then 48.08% of EU SaaS companies had <10 native integrations published as compared to only 43.21% of US SaaS co.s.
| Number of Native Integrations | EU SaaS co.s by volume of integrations | USA SaaS co.s by volume of integrations |
| 1-5 | 24.04% | 22.84% |
| 6-10 | 24.04% | 20.37% |
| 11-20 | 21.15% | 17.90% |
| 21-50 | 24.04% | 27.78% |
| 50-100 | 3.85% | 8.02% |
| 100+ | 2.88% | 3.09% |
| Grand Total | 100.00% | 100.00% |
You will say that we are biased, but interoperability and integrations are key in most areas of SaaS these days and it is interesting to us to see a) the number (1/3) who don’t feature integrations and b) the strong bias towards the USA for those that do.
US vs EU SaaS Approaches
So overall we can see that USA SaaS companies:
- Typically raising more capital
- Typically emphasise integrations
- Are more likely to have native integrations and typically build more integrations
Whilst there is little we can do to improve the chances of an EU business raising more capital, we absolutely can facilitate the ability to increase the number of native integrations on offer. EU companies in particular need to catch up a little.
Equally, if you are one of the overall 33% of the total SaaS co.s with no integrations featured at all, you may want to consider what the large majority of SaaS co.s know and you don’t………. we are here to help.
