Stripe has released Stripe Terminal, an invite-only programmable point of sale payment solution. With both mobile and Javascript SDKs available, Stripe is offering pre-certified hardware with EMV levels 1, 2 and 3 to help merchants set up and integrate the system in a matter of days. The processor’s cloud-based management will grant merchants an aggregate view of both in-store and online customers and transactions.
Elsewhere in enterprise SaaS news, Lyft has confidentially filed an S-1 with the SEC, aiming for an IPO in Spring 2019. Following a $600 million Series I round of funding in June of this year, the company’s valuation currently stands at $15.1 billion, more than doubling in the past two years. The rideshare giant has raised $2.9 billion in lifetime funding, and its valuation is still expected to increase before listing.
In SaaS Industry news, CEO Ismael Wrixen recently contributed to industry print and digital publication SaaS Mag’s blog in a post covering The Evolution of SaaS: 4 Trends to Watch in 2019. In the article, Ismael covers the incorporation of AI into the SaaS mainstream, how SaaS and PaaS are connected, the incorporation of blockchain and transaction-based payment models. Make sure to check it out ahead of the SaaS industry’s 17.8% expected growth in 2019!
The world of email service providers saw FE International client and leading email management platform Drip announce the Drip Agency Program to help users leverage the platform’s features successfully. The initiative is an Agency Partnership Program, in which Drip will team up with marketing agencies and sophisticated users to offer a curated array of technical resources, as well as demos, one-on-one Drip training, joint marketing opportunities, customized pitches and demos, revenue share and a dedicated success managers.
In other digital marketing news, Quora has this week announced a data breach by a third party who gained unauthorized access to the platform, affecting 100 million users globally. In the blog post announcing the breach, Quora noted that account information like names, email addresses, encrypted passwords, data from third party networks, user content (like Q&A) and direct messages were potentially compromised. To recover from the breach, Quora has logged out all users who may have been affected, will invalidate all affected passwords and is notifying those affected by the breach individually.
New in digital marketing business listings this week we have a $425K B2B social media automation platform, productized service monetized via recurring subscriptions with a strong MRR of c.$24,000, years of operational history leading to a firm position in the lucrative B2B social media marketing niche, loyal user base with a high LTV of c.$5,700 complemented by a low MRR churn rate of c.5% in the LTM and strong value proposition delivered through the usage of highly-skilled U.S. based content team.
New in display advertising business listings this week we have a $1.04M digital music platform, with authoritative brand with a decade of operational history, excellent traffic profile with over 1.2 billion page views and 420 million sessions in the past four years, strong backlink profile with hundreds of thousands of backlinks and keyword rankings ranking for c.75,000 keywords, vast user base of over 670,000 registered users and lean and simple operational cost structure allowing for high and steady margins.
New in e-commerce listings this week we have a $288K precious jewels business, with over a decade of operational history leading to a firm positioning in the lucrative lab-grown diamond niche, steady growth with revenues reaching c.22% CAGR for the period 2016 to (e)2018, proven market demand and customer loyalty, with up to c.60% of revenues generated from repeat clients in the L12M and strong network of high-quality US-based suppliers, allowing for a vast selection of high-quality products. If you are interested in any of the above businesses, please follow the link to request a prospectus.
In events news, Founder Thomas Smale had a great time at SaaStock Oceania this week, where FE co-hosted a drinks event for clients and industry friends. Back in the U.S. the FE team had a great time attending Recur in Boston. This year, FE International has attended, hosted, sponsored and spoke at nearly 40 industry conferences! Thanks to everyone who joined us at the networking events, came to hear us speak and reached out to meet up; keep an eye out for updates as we look forward to an even busier conference schedule 2019!
Continue reading below for more on Stripe’s new POS payment solution, Lyft’s IPO and Drip’s agency partnership program.
Listings
New
Display Advertising – Digital Music Platform – $39K gross/mo
- Authoritative brand with a decade of operational history
- Excellent traffic profile with over 1.2 billion page views and 420 million sessions in the past four years
- Strong backlink profile with hundreds of thousands of backlinks and keyword rankings ranking for c.75,000 keywords
- Vast user base of over 670,000 registered users
- Lean and simple operational cost structure allowing for high and steady margins
Yearly net profit: $405,000
Asking price: $1,044,000
Digital Service – B2B Social Media Automation Platform – $24K MRR
- Productized service monetized via recurring subscriptions with a strong MRR of c.$24,000
- Years of operational history leading to a firm position in the lucrative B2B social media marketing niche
- Loyal user base with a high LTV of c.$5,700 complemented by a low MRR churn rate of c.5% in the LTM
- Strong value proposition delivered through the usage of highly-skilled U.S. based content team
Yearly net profit: $129,000
Asking price: $425,000
E-Commerce – Precious Jewels – $38K gross/mo
- Over a decade of operational history leading to a firm positioning in the lucrative lab-grown diamond niche
- Steady growth with revenues reaching c.22% CAGR for the period 2016 to (e)2018
- Proven market demand and customer loyalty, with up to c.60% of revenues generated from repeat clients in the L12M
- Strong network of high-quality US-based suppliers, allowing for a vast selection of high-quality products
Yearly net profit: $111,000
Asking price: $288,000
Sold
SaaS – Real Estate Email Marketing – $25K MRR
E-Commerce – Collector’s Dice and Accessories – $11.7k gross/mo
Affiliate – Outdoor Sports – $3.6K gross/mo
In The News…
Stripe Terminal Releases POS Payment
Stripe has released an invite-only in-store checkouts solution dubbed Stripe Terminal.
In an effort to help online retailers who wish to extend their presence to brick and mortar, Stripe has made both mobile and Javascript SDKs available. These SDKs are quick to deploy as they come precertified for EMV levels 1, 2 and 3, meaning merchants can be up and running in a matter of days, rather than the usual months of developer and certification time required. Store owners will even be able to initiate subscriptions in-store with Billing. Management of the hardware is entirely cloud-based, allowing store owners to view all customers and transactions in one aggregated place. Finally, each user-facing aspect of the point of sale offers a developer platform to be completely customizable.
While merchants can select the reader that best suits their needs, “all readers natively support EMV chip cards and contactless payment methods while providing end-to-end encryption.”
Lyft Files for 2019 IPO
Lyft has confidentially filed S-1 documents with the SEC in order to pursue a Spring 2019 IPO.
Rumors of Lyft’s larger competitor Uber filing for public listing abound, and in fact CEO Dara Khosrowshahi has previously stated that Uber is considering a Spring IPO in 2019. While Lyft remains unprofitable, a Series I funding round this year has bumped the ridesharing leader’s valuation up to $15.1 billion, for a total of $2.9 billion raised during the lifetime of the company. Lyft does not bring with it the same significant losses that Uber does, and posted revenues of $563 million in the last fiscal quarter, an increase of 88% YoY.
Lyft operates in the US and Canada, with sights set on Western Europe.
Drip Launches Partnership Program
Drip has launched a partnership program for agencies and advanced users this week.
In order to help agencies better serve their customers, the new initiative will make available account managers to help leverage resources within the platform. Main benefits of the agency partnership will include comprehensive one-on-one Drip training, a partner badge, joint marketing opportunities with other agency clients, revenue sharing, customized demos and help on constructing a pitch to clients. Drip users who are interested in signing up for the new initiative simply answer six questions to become onboarded into the program. Drip will then reach out and begin to strategize ways to help agencies drive results for their customers.
Agencies which bring in a higher volume of customers receive a larger share of revenue.
For more updates throughout the week on the financial world of online business M&A, follow our team on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram.