The 5 Fastest Growing Sectors of Enterprise SaaS
One of the most illuminating things that results from Cardin Partners’ data-first approach to tracking the SaaS software space is the kind of analysis we can do with respect to sub-sector and vertical software market growth. If you haven’t already reviewed our Global SaaS 10k list, please have a look. In updating the figures through the end of the second calendar quarter of 2017, we note the following 5 fastest growing segments of the SaaS software space:
| Sector / Vertical | Q2/Q1 Growth [Implied CAGR] | Sector Leaders | Notable Transaction |
| Governance, Risk & Compliance | 8.2% [37%] | MetricStream FICO |
April 6, 2017: Rivo Software was acquired by Sphera Solutions (Genstar Capital-backed) for an undisclosed amount |
| Finance & Accounting | 7.3% [33%] | Intuit Concur Xero Sage |
July 25, 2017: Intacct entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by Sage Group (LON: SGE) for $850 million |
| Data & Analytics | 6.0% [27%] | SAS Teradata Tableau |
April 28, 2017: Cloudera (NYS: CLDR) raised $225 million in its initial public offering, valuing the company at $1.92 billion |
| BPM & Automation | 5.7% [25%] | Genpact OpenText |
May 25, 2017: Appian (NAS: APPN) raised $75 million in its initial public offering, valuing the company at $704 million |
| Hospitality | 5.1% [22%] | Expedia Amadeus Sabre Airbnb |
April 5, 2017: Availpro was acquired by AccorHotels (PAR: AC) for an undisclosed amount |
| Overall | 3.7% [15.5%] |
What’s perhaps most remarkable is the rate at which the software space is growing relative to the World Bank GDP Growth Data, which suggests a 2.4% annualized global growth rate; the SaaS software space is presently growing 6.5 times as fast as the world economy. This is not a big surprise, as indeed the BVP Cloud Index reflects that the market capitalization of the world’s largest publicly traded SaaS businesses has grown more than 18%, YTD (and has grown nearly 50% faster than the broader NASDAQ index, overall).