The UK SaaS market: Europe’s hotspot for tech innovation
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
Finance | ERP
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
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
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
London, England
Year Founded
2009
Headcount
917
Global Offices
6
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
2012
Headcount
252
Global Offices
15
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
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
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.
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