13-15 May 2024, SaaStock USA is bringing founders, investors and a whole lotta SaaS to Austin Texas.
Here’s why we chose Austin as our US home.
From Silicon Valley to Silicon Hills
Austin, known for its laid-back and quirky culture, has evolved into a hub of innovation and entrepreneurship. Two of our favourite characteristics over here at SaaStock.
Now dubbed the “Silicon Hills”, the city now houses over 900 SaaS companies, including SaaS AI unicorn Jasper AI and NASDAQ listed ecommerce platform, BigCommerce.
The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the tech migration to Austin and other cities outside of traditional tech hubs, such as the Bay Area. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, at the height of the pandemic, Austin had the highest inflow of tech workers of any major North American city (from May 2020 to April 2021).
The pandemic made remote work more prevalent, and many techies chose to relocate to cities with a lower cost of living and better quality of life. Similarly, many names in Big Tech began to reassess their business models and strategies, including their physical locations.
This explosive growth during this short time frame saw Austin come out on top: with a transformed cityscape, and a solidified status as a tech hub.
A city of entrepreneurship, creativity and culture
Often referred to as the “Live Music Capital of the World”, Austin is home to more than just tech giants, and software whizzes.
It’s also home to a vibrant community of artists, musicians, and creatives, and is a hub for events and festivals that showcase local and international talent.
The University of Texas supports this drive, as it helps build the next generation of game-changers and category definers, calling itself a “place to explore countless opportunities for tomorrow’s artists, scientists, athletes, doctors, entrepreneurs and engineers.” The University specifically produces a large number of engineering and computer science graduates every year, with headline-making alumni creating a strong talent pool in the city.
And the entrepreneurial spirit flows beyond the university, too.
Capital Factory, an accelerator based in the heart of the city, defines itself as the “Center for gravity for entrepreneurs in Texas”. Helping entrepreneurs meet their first customers, employees, mentors. Sounds like a company we’d get along well with…
The home of high growth SaaS
Tessian
Tessian is a leading cloud email security platform that intelligently protects organisations against advanced threats and data loss on email, while coaching people about security threats in-the-moment. Using machine learning and behavioural data science, Tessian automatically stops threats that evade legacy Secure Email Gateways, including advanced phishing attacks, business email compromise, accidental data loss and insider threats. Tessian’s intelligent approach not only strengthens email security but also builds smarter security cultures in the modern enterprise.
Employees: 201-500
Locations: Austin, Boston, London
Tray.io
Tray.io is a low-code, cloud-first approach to automation. Its scalable, resilient, and secure platform transforms fragmented processes into powerful business outcomes. Using the Tray platform, companies can connect their entire cloud stack using APIs, and thanks to a visual workflow builder, customers can easily create automations that drive their business processes using clicks or code.
Employees: 201-500
Locations: Atlanta, Austin, California, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Durham, Houston, New York City, Washington DC, San Francisco, London, Raleigh, Chapel Hill, Sydney
LogicMonitor
LogicMonitor’s SaaS-based observability and IT operations data collaboration platform helps ITOps, developers, MSPs and business leaders gain visibility into and predictability across the technologies that modern organizations depend on to deliver extraordinary employee and customer experiences. LogicMonitor seamlessly monitors everything from networks to applications to the cloud, empowering companies to focus less on troubleshooting and more on innovation.
Employees: 1001-5000
Locations: Austin, Singapore, London, Santa Barbara, New York, Sydney, Cambridge
Forecastr
Forecastr is a high-growth, venture-backed startup on a mission to help Founders build great financial models so they can impress their investors and make better decisions.
Employees: 11-50
Locations: Austin, Denver, Louisville
The strong startup culture in Austin attracts and nurtures many innovative and entrepreneurial individuals, which helps create a pay-it-forward, supportive and collaborative environment for SaaS startups.
We’re looking to champion Austin’s tech scene and most promising startups at SaaStock USA. If you’re an Austin-based SaaS company, find out more and nominate your company here for a chance to be spotlighted alongside the best in North American SaaS.
Pro-business climate: Supportive government policies
Another factor that pushes Austin forward as a leading tech hub is its supportive government policies. The city’s leaders have not only recognised the importance of the tech industry that’s flourishing in Austin, but have taken steps to support its growth.
The Austin Technology Incubator has been established to provide resources and support for startups. Additionally, the city has invested in infrastructure and regulations to support the tech industry, including high-speed internet, cutting-edge facilities and tax incentives. This support has created a favourable environment for tech companies to thrive and has made Austin an attractive place for startups to launch and grow their businesses.
Opening doors: Venture capital in Austin
Austin has a thriving startup ecosystem, and there are many venture capital firms and angel investors in the area that are eager to invest in promising SaaS startups.
In 2021, the area set records for venture capital funding, with investments coming to an incredible $5.4billion. Unsurprisingly this slowed the following year, but not drastically: Dealroom reported that Austin-based startups raised $5billion in 2022.
One of the companies leading the way is Jasper AI, who reached unicorn status with a $125M Series A Funding Round in October 2022.
With Jasper AI’s funding round being one of many, Dealroom.co reports that Austin-based startups are now worth over $128Billion.
That’s not a valuation of a small-time ecosystem: Austin’s got its foot in the game.
As the world builds out the “next generation of tech”, Austin now officially ranks as #25 on a global list of tech ecosystems, based on investment, innovation, talent and outcome.
Yet, it’s not just any capital for any startup: the city is taking it one step further…
According to an analysis led by Pitchbook, Austin is one of the leading cities seeing growth in capital raised by female founders.
Pitchbook’s report shows that female-founded startups have raised more than $2.8 billion since the start of 2020, a whopping “161% increase from its 2008 to 2019 total”.
Accelerators such as DivInc are actively working to “transform the tech ecosystem into a more authentically inclusive place”.
Let’s take a look at the investors leading the way.
Leading SaaS Investors HQ’d in Austin
LiveOak Venture Partners
LiveOak is an early-stage venture capital firm that invests in B2B SaaS companies. They focus on companies that are leveraging technology to solve large, complex problems in industries like healthcare, financial services, and enterprise software.
Portfolio includes: Backflip, Ceresa, Chainguard, AmplifA, Flo
Next Coast Ventures
Next Coast Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm that invests in B2B SaaS startups. They focus on companies that are solving big problems in large markets and have a unique approach to doing so.
Portfolio includes: Aclaimant, Propensity, Diligent, Submittable, Stoplight
Silverton Partners
Silverton Partners is an early-stage venture capital firm that invests in B2B SaaS startups. They focus on companies that are using technology to solve complex problems in the enterprise space and are poised for rapid growth.
Portfolio includes: NotCommon, 443ID, SailPoint, Convey, Uptempo
S3 Ventures
S3 Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm that invests in B2B SaaS startups. They focus on companies that are leveraging technology to solve complex business problems and are poised for rapid growth.
Portfolio includes: Liquibase, Allstacks, Sudozi
Mercury Fund
Mercury is an early-stage venture capital platform that seeks out transformative software startups, led by exceptional founders, in communities across America.
Portfolio includes: Molecule, Ambyint, Cloudsnap
SaaStock: Connecting the SaaS community
“The SaaS phenomenon is gaining momentum. There is a critical mass of founders that can come together and share experience. SaaStock is the catalyst for this movement.” – Philippe Botteri, Partner, Accel
Unlike many startups, the SaaStock story didn’t begin in a garage, with a laptop and a few founders. Our Founder and CEO, Alex, had a profound interest in SaaS, and a desire to understand the mechanics behind it. Throw a curated SaaS blog into the mix, and a podcast geared solely towards B2B SaaS Founders and he was soon picking the minds of some of the biggest game-changers in SaaS.
This unique position Alex found himself in allowed him to forge strong relationships, climb into the minds of SaaS founders, and share it all with the world. This ultimately led to the birth of a community that just kept on growing, with B2B SaaS founders at the heart of it all.
There’s something kind of magical that happens when SaaS founders come together. Nobody can deny that it’s a lonely job at the top.
By coming together at SaaStock, founders are able to learn from one another, transfer knowledge and share stories. They support each other and give feedback on their businesses ‒ whether over dinner after an event, or at the main conference – it’s a powerful and lasting impact. And we’ve seen real success stories – Patrick Campbell (ProfitWell) met Christian Owens (Paddle) at SaaStock – a $200M acquisition and a $1.4 billion valuation later, the rest is history.
Join SaaStock in Austin
Taking place at the Palmer Events Center, 13-15 May, SaaStock USA will bring together 1500+ founders, operators, and investors, including: Worldpay, DuploCloud, Maxio, Klaviyo, Xero, Accel, and Bessemer Venture Partners.
During the event, we’re taking the opportunity to spotlight Austin’s most promising startups at the SaaS Revolutionaries. These awards will celebrate the best in North American SaaS and Austin’s Rising Stars have their own category.
If your company is headquartered in Austin, has 30+ employees OR over $3M ARR, then you can nominate your company today!
Want to join us there? Tickets available now!
