Today’s top story comes from SaaS Mag. The SaaS publication is thrilled to announce its Q4 edition; Gaining Your Market Advantage, has officially launched! In this edition, readers will find exclusive interviews with the some of the most influential leaders and executives in the SaaS space including Vimeo COO, Courtney Sanchez who graces the Q4 cover.
Conversations with Tomasz Tunguz of Redpoint Ventures, Asana COO, Chris Farinacci, and Basecamp Founder, David Heinemeier Hansson, are all featured in the latest edition.
Subscribing to SaaS Mag means having access to the most up-to-date SaaS market insights and trend analyses including the latest 2019 SaaS Market Review and SaaS 1000 list recognizing the world’s fastest growing SaaS companies. Don’t miss out on receiving a copy: just visit SaaSMag.com and subscribe for free before the shipping deadline.
The tech world this week saw Google announce their latest algorithm update ‘Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers’ (A.K.A. BERT) to their search system. This is one of the biggest changes to Google’s Search algorithm and could alter the search ranking of up to 10% of search queries. The new update will improve the natural language processing capabilities of Google Search by using large data sets and AI to generate contextually accurate results. BERT is far more advanced in NLP than more unidirectional models previously used by Google.
In acquisitions, BlueSnap has acquired Armatic – a move which will see BlueSnap inherit accounts receivable, invoicing, and integrated subscription management software. With these additional capabilities, BlueSnap aims to be able to simplify the billing and payment process for B2B companies by providing a truly all-in-one platform. According to BlueSnap, additional solutions made possible by Armatic will include global digital invoice payment, automated accounts receivable and payments reconciliation integrated with major ERP and CRM platforms, and a self-service portal to facilitate customer autonomy when managing invoices and payments.
In social networking news, Facebook has removed the gray verification badges from business and organization pages as of October 28th. The badges appeared as a gray circle with a white check mark and were issued through an application process. Introduced in 2015, the badges were used to verify authenticity of business and organization pages. Facebook users were reportedly unclear as to the purpose of the verification mark, resulting in the company’s decision to remove them. In addition to the announcement, Facebook released recommendations outlining how group admins can ensure their pages maintain their authentic perception. The social network recommends admins keep their business and organization pages complete with profile and cover photos as well as current location, hours and contact information.
In enterprise SaaS news, Microsoft was selected by the United States Department of Defense for the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure Contract also know as JEDI. The tech enterprise joined the $10 billion dollar contract in an agreement to run the Pentagon’s cloud network through Microsoft’s Azure service. According to reports, the contract calls for the company to provide the U.S. military with a strong network to power operations. The contract also stipulates Microsoft must provide AI powered algorithms for the purpose of defense analytics as well as ensuring the cloud infrastructure can defend against highly sophisticated cyber-attacks.
New in FE Exclusive Listings this week, we have a SaaS business in the B2B E-Commerce Fulfillment Automation niche. Listed at $303,000, this business provides simple and intuitive label-printing software designed for e-commerce merchants on Amazon’s marketplace. The software offers a customizable, one-click printing solution for third-part vendors using Amazon FBA to print shipping and product labels directly to thermal label printers resulting allowing users to save time and money. With a CAGR of 309.6% from 2017 to 2019, this business has experienced tremendous growth. If you are interested in this business, please follow the link above to request a prospectus.
In events news, FE International Founder Thomas Smale enjoyed his time in Las Vegas meeting digital entrepreneurs at the 2019 Rhodium Weekend conference. Members of the FE International team also had the opportunity to attend Tech Day London where they got to meet inspiring London-based tech startup founders and learn about their innovative products. Next week, the FE team will be attending the Mediavine Conference in Austin, Texas, so feel free to get in touch to set up a meeting if you are in the area.
Lastly, don’t forget to visit SaaSMag.com to subscribe and be sent your free copy of the Q4 edition.
Continue reading below for more on Google, BlueSnap, Facebook and Microsoft!
Listings
New
SaaS – B2B Amazon FBA Printing Software Solution – $7.8K MRR
- Firmly positioned in the lucrative and growing FBA printing niche
- Impressive revenue CAGR of c.309.6% from 2017 to 2019
- Attractive SaaS metrics with a high LTV of C.$585 over LTM
- Lean cost structure, driving high net margins of c.68.16% over the LTM
- Simple business operations requiring minimal owner involvement
Yearly net profit: $71,000
Asking price: $303,000
Affiliate – Automobile & Lifestyle Product Reviews – $6.3K gross/mo
- Fast-growing business firmly positioned in the automobile and lifestyle product niche
- Rapidly increasing traffic with over 438,000 visitors over the LTM
- Strong SEO foundation with c.200 articles ranking for c.47,000 keywords
- Lean and scalable cost structure driving high net margins
- Well-diversified revenues stream with three different income channels
Yearly net profit: $76,000
Asking price: $240,000
Affiliate – Home & Outdoors Product Reviews – $4.9K gross/mo
- Dominant SEO presence with keyword rankings for c.30,000 keywords
- Growing traffic profile with c.187,000 visitors over the LTM
- Lean cost structure driving high net margins
- Simple business operations requiring minimal owner involvement
Yearly net profit: $58,000
Asking price: $158,000
Subscription E-Commerce – Yoga, Fitness & Lifestyle Products – $2.1K gross/mo
- Wide selection of stylish and affordable products in the lucrative yoga and lifestyle niche
- Steady revenues driven by recurring e-commerce product subscriptions
- Attractive unit economics with stable ARPO and recurring cash flows
- Automated operations allowing for minimal owner involvement
Yearly net profit: $10,600
Asking price: $38,000
Sold
Display Advertising – Technology, Lifestyle, & Entertainment Blog – $4.1K gross/mo
In the News…
Google Announces Search Algorithm Update
Google has applied BERT systems to their Search algorithm, making it the most significant advancement to search in the past five years. BERT, which stands for Bidirectional Encoder Representations for Transformers, is an open source, neural-network based technique used to improve natural learning processing for search results. Originally launched in November of 2018, the system has been fed massive amounts of data over the past year, a process known as pre-training. The new bidirectional transformer model allows words to be processes in relation to all other words unlike older unidirectional approaches which process words one-by-one in order. As a result, Google can identify the intent behind search queries and give contextually accurate search results. The update is predicted to alter search rankings for up to one in 10 search queries.
BlueSnap Acquires Armatic
Armatic has been acquired by global payments tech company, BlueSnap. According to BlueSnap, the $127 trillion-dollar global payment processing market has not yet modernized and continues to rely heavily on paper checks and invoices, presenting the need for an all-in-one payment processing platform. Combining Armatic’s accounts receivable and invoicing automation technology with BlueSnap’s payment processing software will simplify the entire B2B transaction process from quote to payment while reducing costs and increasing sales. BlueSnap CEO, Ralph Dangelmaier made statement that Armatic was already integrated into their solution and shared joint customers, so they expect to see tremendous growth with the addition of the Armatic team.
Facebook Removes Page Authentication Badges
Facebook introduced grey verification badges back in 2015 for business and organization pages but as of October 28th, have been removed. The badges gave SME’s a way to authenticate their pages showing Facebook users they were legitimate and being managed similar to the way Facebook uses blue badges to verify accounts for media companies, brands and public figures. The badges were applied to pages through an application process and with their recent removal, businesses and organizations need to invest more effort into proving the authenticity of their pages. Facebook recommends Admins keep their profiles complete with profile and cover photos, up-to-date location, hours and contact information as well as frequent posting and engagement.
DOD Selects Microsoft for JEDI Contract
Microsoft has been selected by the the United States government for the $10 billion JEDI contract, making the tech enterprise responsible for the Pentagon’s cloud network. Microsoft was chosen by the Department of Defense to run cloud computing for United States Military operations for the next ten years through their Azure service. JEDI, which stands for Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure, requires the Microsoft team to provide artificial intelligence powered algorithms to generate defense analytics alongside managing the cloud infrastructure ensuring it can withstand and defend against highly advanced cyber-attacks.