
How Apollo.io Is Helping Every Company Reach Its Full Revenue Potential
With a comprehensive, product-first approach, Apollo.io is positioned to become this generation’s premiere sales platform.
BCV Principal Zeeza Cole and Headline Investor Taylor Brandt wrote this article in collaboration. You can follow them on Twitter here and here to keep up with their thoughts on the venture landscape, the future of work, vertical SaaS and more.
Why Today’s Climate is the Perfect Time for Vertical SaaS to Shine
Industry-specific software – known as Vertical SaaS – has become increasingly popular among investors over the past decade. Unicorn valuations for companies across industries like construction (Procore), dining (Toast), and wellness (Mindbody) demonstrate that industry-specific, cloud-based software companies can become large companies, offer a highly attractive business model for investors and fundamentally transform historically manual industries. While there have been a number of large outcomes, investors are now on the lookout for the next generation of Vertical SaaS startups. As with any industry, however, the space continues to evolve. Even over this past decade, there are changes in end user behavior and new technological advances that have given way to new, and often larger, opportunities than previously expected.
In this article, we will discuss some of the critical tailwinds we expect will contribute to a new wave of startups and potential areas in which they may emerge. In an effort to capture a comprehensive view of the companies capitalizing on these tailwinds, we will also be sharing a Vertical SaaS 50 list as a follow up to this article in the coming weeks, highlighting our selection of the top 50 high growth potential Vertical SaaS companies. We have already compiled over 200 emerging early stage Vertical SaaS companies and would love your input to find the most inspiring ones. This list will include emerging, early stage (pre-seed through Series A) US based companies. If you are a vertical SaaS founder, or know someone building in the space, nominate them here!
The early stages of this Vertical SaaS revolution were largely defined by new end user behavior, specifically a new tech-savvy buyer, and emerging technologies, namely the rise of cloud and mobile. This current stage is no different, though the tailwinds for both have slightly evolved – digitization has permeated not only the buyer but the end user and there are new technologies and data readily available.
The next group of Vertical SaaS winners will benefit from these macro tailwinds to deliver consumerized digital products that are both highly-specialized and deeply integrated within their respective industries. We believe the changes outlined will create opportunities for the next wave of software in three main areas:
We are excited to support and invest in founders building the next generation of best in class Vertical SaaS companies. As mentioned above, we will be publishing a Vertical SaaS list in the coming weeks. If you are a vertical SaaS founder, or know someone building in the space, please reach out to us (zcole@baincapital.com & taylor@headline.com) and/or nominate them here!
It was such an honor to work with Taylor on this piece; she is a great friend, investor and collaborator. BCV and Headline have a long history of investing in the space with investments like Housecall Pro, Trucksmarter, Homebase, Appfolio, Grin, Autoleap and Finley. Though it has been a strong sector, we believe the opportunity is even greater in the coming years and are excited to find and invest in the next generation of Vertical SaaS companies.
With a comprehensive, product-first approach, Apollo.io is positioned to become this generation’s premiere sales platform.
Angela and Michele will be working on our Growth team across infra and apps.
BCV is investing in the Series B for EvenUp, a legal tech company using generative AI to support plaintiffs and their lawyers in personal injury cases.