The UK SaaS market: Europe’s hotspot for tech innovation

The UK is second to only the US in the number of SaaS companies it's home to

Elise Howard | MAY 13, 2022

Though the US dominates the estimated $172 billion SaaS market, the UK has rightfully earned its place as runner-up. With more than 2,000 SaaS companies, the booming UK SaaS sector is expected to nearly double in market value by 2025.

The UK SaaS market has also attracted investor attention, with almost a quarter of 2021 UK equity funding flowing to UK SaaS startups. Given this, it’s no surprise that the UK has produced more tech unicorns than any European nation.

Below is a listing of some of the leading UK SaaS categories, along with top players within each segment.


 

Finance | Payments

 

Formerly TransferWise

HQ
London, England

Year Founded
2011

Headcount
2,990

Global Offices
29

Overview
• Money transfer service that allows for international payments to be made up to eight times more cheaply than with a bank transfer
• Wise Business — handles more than 50 currencies, uses two local transfers versus one international transfer for clients to make purchases and handle payroll


 

HQ
London, England

Year Founded
2011

Headcount
746

Global Offices
4


 

HQ
London, England

Year Founded
2012

Headcount
1604

Global Offices
14


 

Formerly Sequel

HQ
London, England

Year Founded
1993

Headcount
405

Global Offices
4


 

HQ
London, England

Year Founded
2010

Headcount
939

Global Offices
15


 

HQ
Crewe, England

Year Founded
1990

Headcount
877

Global Offices
10


 

Finance | ERP

 

HQ
Newcastle, England

Year Founded
1999

Headcount
14,965

Global Offices
10

Overview
• ERP software solutions for accounting, HR management and payroll, helping businesses stay up to date with guidelines and legislation
• Third-largest ERP software supplier in the world


 

HQ
Bristol, England

Year Founded
2007

Headcount
186

Global Offices
2


 

HQ
London, England

Year Founded
2011

Headcount
20

Global Offices
1


 

Travel

 

HQ
London, England

Year Founded
2013

Headcount
108

Global Offices
4

Overview
• Helps hotels gain direct bookings, eliminating booking aggregators with affiliate fees
• Monitors OTA (online travel agency) undercutting with rate parity surveillance
• Uses targeting, retargeting and AI to attract the most valuable guests and encourages them to book directly


 

HQ
London, England

Year Founded
2017

Headcount
74

Global Offices
2


 

HQ
London, England

Year Founded
2016

Headcount
114

Global Offices
2


 

HQ
London, England

Year Founded
2017

Headcount
74

Global Offices
2


 

 

IT & Security

 

HQ
London, England

Year Founded
2016

Headcount
3,163

Global Offices
10

Overview
• A world leader in providing privacy management software solutions for businesses, helping companies comply with international data security laws and gain visibility into how their internal data is used
• Most widely-used platform for privacy, data governance and security


 

HQ
London, England

Year Founded
2015

Headcount
1,165

Global Offices
4


 

HQ
London, England

Year Founded
2012

Headcount
611

Global Offices
13


 

 

Sales

 

HQ
London, England

Year Founded
2015

Headcount
286

Global Offices
5

Overview
• Uses AI to generate B2B sales leads and provides sales teams with real-time data on people, events and companies to help users identify new business opportunities
• Enriches CRM data to place qualified leads into sales funnel and identify customer behavior using machine learning


 

HQ
Newcastle, England

Year Founded
2013

Headcount
228

Global Offices
2


 

HQ
London, England

Year Founded
2009

Headcount
917

Global Offices
6


 

HQ
London, England

Year Founded
2010

Headcount
51

Global Offices
3


 

HQ
Swansea, Wales

Year Founded
2013

Headcount
89

Global Offices
1


 

HQ
London, England

Year Founded
2016

Headcount
98

Global Offices
1


 

 

Marketing

 

HQ
London, England

Year Founded
2010

Headcount
46

Global Offices
4

Overview
• SaaS personalization company designed to aid e-commerce teams in creating highly-personalized and relevant customer experiences for website visitors
• Uses machine learning and data analytics to collect, store and process personalized data that drives revenue


 

HQ
London, England

Year Founded
2013

Headcount
30

Global Offices
1


 

HQ
London, England

Year Founded
2012

Headcount
252

Global Offices
15


 

HQ
London, England

Year Founded
2015

Headcount
120

Global Offices
3


 

HQ
London, England

Year Founded
2009

Headcount
49

Global Offices
2


 

HQ
London, England

Year Founded
2014

Headcount
33

Global Offices
1


 

HQ
London, England

Year Founded
2014

Headcount
33

Global Offices
1


 

 

HR

 

HQ
London, England

Year Founded
2014

Headcount
34

Global Offices
1

Overview
• Provides employees with a virtual suggestion box and connects communication platforms that businesses are already familiar with
• Organizations are able to find, track and prioritize the best suggestions and inform employees of idea implementation


 

HQ
London, England

Year Founded
2015

Headcount
192

Global Offices
2


 

HQ
London, England

Year Founded
2012

Headcount
73

Global Offices
1


 

HQ
Manchester, England

Year Founded
2015

Headcount
253

Global Offices
5


 

 

Business Ops| Analytics

 

HQ
London, England

Year Founded
2011

Headcount
192

Global Offices
6

Overview
• Uses data science, technology and consumer behavior prediction tools to analyze internet data and combine it with internal company data
• Trendscope tool contextualizes and identifies relevant trends, helping businesses make more informed decisions


 

HQ
London, England

Year Founded
2016

Headcount
41

Global Offices
2


 

HQ
London, England

Year Founded
2006

Headcount
9

Global Offices
1


 

HQ
London, England

Year Founded
2010

Headcount
31

Global Offices
2


 

HQ
Winnersh, England

Year Founded
2006

Headcount
62

Global Offices
2


 

HQ
Winnersh, England

Year Founded
2006

Headcount
62

Global Offices
2

 

As the UK SaaS sector continues to grow at an impressive rate, it will be exciting to see how UK cloud innovation will have a major impact on businesses across the globe.

Headquartered in London, Vertice is a SaaS purchasing platform that works on our customers’ behalf to simplify SaaS stack management, helping finance and procurement teams achieve cost savings and price transparency.

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