Recurly this week published a study on subscription churn rates by industry type. The survey studied data from 1,200 businesses over the course of a year to establish benchmarks for a variety of different industries. Recurly found the overall monthly churn rate benchmark to be 6.12%, caveating the findings by noting churn rates vary greatly by industry. The survey also found that businesses in B2C industries experienced 7.69% churn, while those in B2B spaces experienced 5.56%. SaaS businesses had the lowest combined churn at 5.33%. This data is in line with FE data; the average churn for companies sold over the past decade is just 5.24%, beating the wider results published by Recurly.
Elsewhere in SaaS news, Nylas, an API tool built for developers to integrate email platforms with other software, announced that it has raised $16 million in Series B funding. Nylas will use the capital injection “to become the default tool for developers building applications that integrate with inbox data,” according to CEO Gleb Polyakov. Braavo, a startup that provides financing to mobile app developers, also raised $6 million in their Series A this week. This latest round of equity funding will be used to develop an analytics tool for mobile-based app companies.
The tech world saw Facebook and Twitter ban hundreds of political accounts linked to Russian and Iranian actors. Facebook said in a statement that the accounts were participating in “coordinated inauthentic behavior,” and removed them as part of three major ongoing security operations. Affected pages reportedly did not target the upcoming 2018 midterm elections in the United States but did focus on a range of political issues.
Featured in SaaS listings this week we have a $361K B2B time & expense tracking software business, with over a decade in business, an authoritative brand, a loyal customer base, low overhead, and high automation that minimizes owner involvement.
Featured in PaaS listings, we have a $1M government and security platform, with over two decades of business history, a lean and scalable cost structure, a client list that includes Fortune 500 brands, and an experienced customer support representative who will transition post-sale. This business is pre-approved for SBA financing.
Featured in content listings we have a $45K display advertising site in the video streaming niche, with a vast content catalogue of over 200 articles, strong traffic with c.925,000 uniques and 2.5 million page views in the past eight months, rankings for c.9,000 keywords, and a lean and scalable cost structure that allows for strong and sustainable margins. If you are interested in any of these businesses, please follow the links to request a prospectus.
In events news, FE will be sponsoring the Boston E-Commerce Meetup on August 28 at WeWork South Station. Join us to hear the expert panel discuss Website Optimization in E-Commerce on August 28 at WeWork South Station. We will also be co-hosting an INBOUND event on September 4th. Please sign up now to secure your spot!
Finally, FE has secured an exclusive offer with NeverBounce to get a 50% credit bonus when signing up via the this landing page through the end of August and 25% bonus by the end of September. Be sure not to miss out if email marketing is a big part of your marketing strategy in Q4!
Continue reading below for more on the TraceLink, Nylas, Braavo, and our featured listings.
Listings
SaaS – B2B Time & Expense Tracking Software – $8.4K MRR
- Long and successful track record of over a decade, creating a well-known brand
- Robust software with a clear value proposition driving a low MRR churn rate of c.0.3% in the LTM/li>
- Loyal customer base with hundreds of customers and glowing reviews
- Low overhead allowing for high and stable net margin of c.90% in the past year
- Highly automated product reducing owner involvement
Yearly net profit: $92,600
Asking price: $361,000
Featured
PAAS – Government and Military Security Recruitment Platform – $31K gross/mo – SBA Eligible
- Authoritative brand with nearly two decades of operational history in an evergreen niche
- Lean and scalable cost structure allowing for strong net margins of c.80% in the past year
- Track record of success serving multiple Fortune 500 brands
- Proven product market fit, connecting hundreds of thousands of job seekers and employers over the years
- Experienced customer support representative transitioning post-sale
Yearly net profit: $288,000
Asking price: $1,000,000
Featured
Display Advertising – Video Streaming Software – $1.7K gross/mo
- Vast content catalogue of over 200 articles
- Strong traffic with c.925,000 uniques and 2.5 million page views in the past eight months
- Site ranks for c.9,000 keywords
- Lean and scalable cost structure allowing for strong margins
Yearly net profit: $20,000
Asking price: $45,500
Sold
Digital Service – Recruitment & Employment Resources – $68K gross/mo
Display Advertising – Customized Images – $4.1K gross/mo
SaaS – B2B Messaging & User Engagement – $5.2K MRR
Display Advertising – Lifestyle & Motivational Quotes – $5K net/mo
Affiliate – Outdoor Sports – $2.3K gross/mo
In The News…
Recurly Research Releases Churn Benchmarks
Recurly Research published a study that surveyed churn rates for 1,200 sites over 12 months, establishing both overall and industry-specific benchmarks.
Of the 1,200 sites surveyed, the overall churn was 6.12%. B2C sites experienced higher churn (7.69%) than B2B sites (5.56%), and voluntary churn (4.68%) was much higher than involuntary churn (1.44%). Across all industries, box-of-the-month club sites had the highest churn rates at 12.30%, trailed by OTT/SVOD businesess, which had churn rates of 10.96%, and education businesses, which had churn rates of 9.77%. SaaS businesses had the lowest churn at 5.33%. Recurly notes that SaaS’s low churn rate is likely due to the proportionally high B2B businesses. However, even in B2C spaces, SaaS companies experienced relatively low voluntary churn at just 4.43%.
Nylas Raises $16M in Series B
Nylas, a SaaS platform that helps developers add email-powered features to their tools, announced that they’ve raised $16 million in Series B funding.
Founded in 2013, Nylas has raised $30 million to date. Nylas now fields more than 100 million API requests daily and has synched 15 billion emails. Its developer user base has grown to 22,000 and includes clients like Newscorp. Hyundai, and Ellie Mae. With this funding, Nylas hopes to move into the mainstream: “Our goal is to become the default tool for developers building applications that integrate with inbox data. In the API world, Stripe is viewed as the trusted payments API, Twilio is the trusted SMS/Voice API. Now, Nylas is becoming the trusted API for integrating with email, calendar, and contacts data,” wrote Gleb Polyakov, Nylas CEO.
Braavo’s $6M Round
Braavo has raised $6M in a new round of funding and in the process will be launching new tools for mobile app developers.
Braavo is a financing platform for app creators on mobile platforms, offering an alternative to venture capital funding: “The data is there to create ways to provide financing to companies that otherwise would have to raise more [venture funding] and dilute themselves,” co-founder Mark Loranger told TechCrunch’s Anthony Ha. The platform is also launching a separate analytics product that integrates with mobile apps and tracks key data points (e.g. CLTV, revenue). Developer success is at the epicenter of Braavo’s business model; the company gets paid by taking a fixed percentage of an app’s future earnings. After their most recent funding round, Braavo’s total equity financing amounts to $8 million.
Facebook Cracks Down on Political Accounts
Facebook removed hundreds of accounts that they said participated in “coordinated inauthentic behavior.”
The accounts, linked to Russia and Iran, were used to promte websites that spread misinformation around a variety of political issues. One site called “Liberty Front Press,” which promoted various political views in the Middle East but had recently began promoting content in the United States, had only 74 pages but was linked to three Facebook groups, 70 Facebook accounts, and 76 Instagram accounts. It spent $6,000 on ads and amassed over 155,000 followers on Facebook and 48,000 on Instagram.