Workday Still Tops Largest VC-Backed SaaS Exits Since 2011

Software-as-a-service (SaaS) is one of the hottest areas for venture capital investors with $11.7 billion going to SaaS startups in just 2014 – growth of 70% year over year.

Investor interest in SaaS businesses has no doubt been stimulated by a number of huge exits in last few years. According to CB Insights data, the top 10 VC-backed SaaS exits between 2011 and 2014 garnered a whopping $23.71B in aggregate value at the time of their exit.

The top 10 SaaS exits over the past four years were dominated by IPOs, with Workday’s IPO (valuing the company at $4.49B) leading the way. Veeva Systems was second with one of the most capital efficient VC-backed exits of all-time, having raised just $4M before its $4.4B IPO. Tableau Software also ranked as both one of the top SaaS and capital efficient tech exits, having raised $15M from NEA and having seen its market cap rise to $7.28B after going public at $2 billion.

See the full list of largest SaaS exits below.

For more SaaS financing and exit trends, be sure to get a copy of the SaaS Trends Report by Tibco Analytics.

The Largest VC-Backed SaaS Exits – 2011-2014

Company	Exit Type	Valuation ($M)	Select Investors
	IPO	4488	Greylock Partners, New Enterprise Associates
	IPO	4400	Emergence Capital Partners
	IPO	2600	Sequoia Capital, Greylock Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners
	IPO	2326	Sequoia Capital, Norwest Venture Partners, Icon Ventures, Juniper Networks
	IPO	2165	JMI Equity, Sequoia Capital, Greylock Partners
	IPO	2000	New Enterprise Associates, Meritech Capital Partners
	IPO	1573	Sevin Rosen Funds, August Capital, JK&B Capital, Ignition Partners
	M&A	1540	Insight Venture Partners, Accel Partners
	IPO	1400	Venrock, Oak Investment Partners, US Venture Partners
	IPO	1225	Insight Venture Partners, Greenspring Associates, Battery Ventures

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