Software as a Service or SaaS business model is one of the most promising to pursue in 2024. In 2023, 47% of total venture capital has been invested in SaaS startups — and this is not an accident but rather a trend that has been relevant and rising over the past decade. Furthermore, the SaaS market worth is estimated to reach $232 billion by the end of 2024.
So, if you're thinking about creating and launching your own SaaS product, now could be the best time to do that. Learning from others' experiences can help you build a top-class product or simply understand what is currently working in this industry. So read further to discover the top SaaS startups and industry trends of 2024.
SaaS development trends that we saw in 2023 and still in hype
It can be quite difficult to predict the upcoming trends each year — unless you know what to focus on. If you keep a close eye on the trend of 2023, most likely, you can safely predict what will be hyping in 2024. If not, we are here to help you.
So, let's discover the top potential SaaS development trends for 2024.
AI and ML integration focus
The development and integration of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) within SaaS solutions has been rising over the past few years. Utilizing these technologies helps brands enhance their functionalities and enhance the overall user experience.
If you want to dive into AI development with more depth, consider visiting Brights' AI development services.
This trend shows how the industry is committed to making the most out of the AI and ML potential and integrating these technologies within SaaS platforms.
Global collaboration
These days, many SaaS products add collaborative features to enable real-time communications, including videoconferencing and instant messaging. The other similar tools such businesses use are whiteboards and file-sharing capabilities.
This trend highlights the industry's commitment to encourage global collaboration. SaaS product companies focus on innovations that improve communication and data sharing among users. This helps SaaS platforms to meet evolving user needs and simplify project management.
Vertical SaaS
Another key trend is the increased use of vertical SaaS solutions. This includes the creation of software designed for specific industries like healthcare, finance, or manufacturing.
These days, businesses are moving away from one-size-fits-all solutions to using software custom-made for their industry needs. This shift to vertical SaaS helps improve the way things work and makes operations more efficient in specific areas.
To learn more about this, check out our guide on Vertical vs Horizontal SaaS.
Rise of BI-powered SaaS
This trend is all about making Software as a Service platform smarter by adding strong Business Intelligence (BI) tools. It's not just about being equipped with a separate tool — instead, it's more about making the existing SaaS tools better by including analytics features.
Imagine a usual SaaS solution that now has a bunch of handy analytics tools. Users get useful dashboards and reports to make their digital experience platform more insightful and data-driven. With the help of this trend, the industry can make software not only practical but also intelligent and filled with useful insights.
Focus on security and compliance
As cyber threats grow more significant and data privacy regulations (such as GDPR in Europe and CCPA in California) become stricter, providers need to focus on improving SaaS security best practices, features and compliance capabilities.
SaaS platforms are becoming more fortified than ever. They're incorporating end-to-end encryption, conducting regular security audits, and integrating features to help users align with their local regulations. This move allows to ensure that users' data remains secure and adheres to the latest privacy standards.
Interoperability and seamless connections
These days, businesses are adopting a growing array of SaaS solutions. The demand for these tools and their seamless collaboration is on the rise as providers invest lots of efforts into crafting robust APIs and integrations.
As a result, SaaS platforms are able to connect easily with other tools and ecosystems. This helps your favorite desktop and mobile apps effortlessly team up and share data. This, in turn, enhances the overall efficiency and productivity in the digital landscape.
However, knowing the trends might not be enough to develop successful strategies for your SaaS business creation and growth. You also need to understand which offers work well for today’s market and drive the most investments in the recent years.
So, let’s learn by exploring the top-performing SaaS startups in different industries.
Top SaaS startups in Fintech
Here are three of the most prominent SaaS startups in the fintech industry for 2024.
Bilt Rewards
Type: rewards program for renters
Country: United States
Started in: 2021
Founder: Ankur Jain
This business offers a rewards program for renters, helping them to earn points on rent and therefore build a path towards owning their own home. It gained $200m LATE VC in January 2024.
The startup’s value rewards programs is considered the highest on today’s market and includes things like one-to-one point transfers for travel across over 100 major airlines and hotels, fitness classes, art and home decor collections, and the ability to use collected points as rent credits or towards a future downpayment.
Mews
Type: cloud-based hotel property management system
Country: United Kingdom
Started in: 2015
Founder: Richard Valtr
Mews is a cloud-based hotel property management system designed to automate hotel operations. Created by former hoteliers, this business helps properties provide exceptional guest experience through intelligent automation and an innovative, user-friendly suite of products and features. Mews gained $110m LATE VC in March 2024.
These days, the startup’s hotels can be found in 85 countries. The property comes in every shape, size, and segment.
DailyPay
Type: on-demand pay solution
Country: United States
Started in: 2015
Founders: Jason Lee, Robert Law
DailyPay runs a cutting-edge financial platform that helps employers engage their workforce and foster strong employee relations. This flexible system unlocks seamless financial management options to employees that include bill payments, savings, investments, and purchases of goods and services. This business gained $75.0m LATE VC in January 2024.
The startup was featured as one of the TIME Magazine Best Inventions of 2021.
Top SaaS startups in real estate
These three startups have been gaining the most investments in the real estate industry.
PermitFlow
Type: construction permit application and management software
Country: United States
Started in: 2022
Founders: Francis Thumpasery, Samuel Lam
PermitFlow is a proud Y Combinator's YC W22 program graduate and a pioneering platform for construction permit application and management that helps builders and owners alike. This business gained $31.0m SERIES A in February 2024.
PermitFlow has supported over 2,000 housing units, including single-family homes and multifamily complexes. The project value exceeded $600 million.
Closinglock
Type: secure wire data sharing solution
Country: United States
Started in: 2017
Founders: Abigail White, Andy White
Closinglock is a cutting-edge solution for securely wire data sharing. This business gained $12.0m SERIES A in February 2024.
The startup allows companies to share their documents with title clients and sign them using the eSigning integration. Text and call automation allows clients to receive immediate notifications about the available documents. The documents are encrypted using the NSA-approved AES encryption and access to the portal is protected by optional two-factor authentication.
Hiboo
Type: data hub for construction equipment
Country: France
Started in: 2017
Founders: Charles Benard, Clement Benard, Francois Jacob
Hiboo embraces the idea of providing industrials with a comprehensive overview of their operations and making the asset and resource management and monitoring easier for the operational teams. This business gained €9.3m SERIES A in January 2024.
This startup collects, organizes, and delivers data generated by moving construction equipment. The users then can access and manage this data as they like using special software or directly on a platform.
Top SaaS startups in EdTech
As for the edtech industry – the most promising SaaS companies in 2024 are the following.
Upwards
Type: childcare accessibility provider
Country: United States
Started in: 2017
Founders: Jesse Forrest, Jessica Chang, Matt Reilly
Upwards is a tech-driven care solutions company that ensures care accessibility for all families and caregivers. They facilitate connections among families, care providers, employers, and governments to build real-time care solutions. This business gained $21.0m SERIES B in February 2024.
This startup made the Forbes Next 1000 list of resilient businesses and rising entrepreneurs. They’ve also supported more than 2 million families.
Morressier
Type: research integrity tech solution
Country: Germany
Started in: 2014
Founders: Justus Weweler, Rino Montiel, Sami Benchekroun
Morressier is your ally in the early-stage conference research. This business is a video conferencing app that supports scientific virtual and hybrid meetings, engages users, and amplifies their content. They gained €15.1m SERIES B in January 2024.
This startup fully supports the scientists through their entire pre-publishing journey, starting from early stages of research and ending with AI-powered integrity checks.
Parallel
Type: developmental ecosystem
Country: United States
Started in: 2020
Founder: Diana Heldfond
Parallel is the tech-driven source for learning assessments and support services that are tailored to students with learning differences, such as dyslexia or ADHD. This business gained $6.1m SERIES A in January 2024.
Parallel’s founder, Diana Heldfond, made the Forbes’ 30 under 30 list in the Education category in 2024.
Top SaaS startups in health & wellness
Health and wellness niche remains relevant as time goes. This year, the top-performing startups in it are the following.
Abridge
Type: AI-powered platform for clinical conversations
Country: United States
Started in: 2018
Founders: Florian Metze, Sandeep Konam, Shivdev Rao
Abridge's business uses AI to organize and shorten medical conversations between doctors and patients. This business gained $150m SERIES C in February 2024.
This startup is powered by LinkedIn Evidence and their own AI technology. These technologies are used to transform patient-clinician conversation into well-structured notes in real-time and in more than 14 languages.
RapidSOS
Type: intelligent safety platform
Country: United States
Started in: 2012
Founders: Michael Martin, Nick Horelik
RapidSOS is a smart safety platform that links devices, apps, and sensors to assist safety agents. This business gained $75.0m SERIES C in March 2024.
The company works with an immense volume of data, supporting 500M+ connecting devices from 90+ global tech companies to over 1M+ respondents across 15K agencies from all over the world.
Ambience Healthcare
Type: AI operating system for healthcare workers
Country: United States
Started in: 2020
Founder: Nikhil Buduma
Ambience Healthcare is the premier AI operating system tailored for healthcare organizations. This business gained $70.0m SERIES B in February 2024.
Partnering with Ambience Healthcare company allows healthcare systems to cut their documentation time by 78% average, improve the integrity of their coding, and achieve 5X ROI at least.
Top AI SaaS startups
As AI continues to develop and gain popularly, many decide to embrace its benefits and create AI-oriented startups. Here are the three of such companies that drove the most investment so far this year.
Moonshot AI
Type: AI-powered language model
Country: China
Started in: 2023
Founders: Yang Zhilin, Zhou Xinyu, Wu Yuxin
Moonshot AI is on a mission to revolutionize the interaction between energy and intelligence. They focus on harnessing energy and on creating smart solutions that engage users through their innovative SaaS products. This business gained $1.0b SERIES B in February 2024.
In October 2023, Moonshot AI launched Kimi – its first Chinese chatbot that claims to be able to process 200,000 Chinese characters per single conversation. This is eight times more than OpenAI’s GPT-4-32K can do.
Kore.ai
Type: conversational AI tech platform
Country: United States
Started in: 2013
Founder: Raj Koneru
Kore.ai creates AI-powered virtual assistants and applications, transforming the way customers and employees engage across diverse industries. Their innovative solutions elevate experiences, seamlessly integrating artificial intelligence to redefine interactions in both customer-facing and internal processes. The business gained $150m LATE VC in January 2024.
Currently Kore.ai is the partner of more than 200 enterprises and 400 Fortune 2000 companies. The company has more than ten offices across the globe, including Europe, the UK, Japan, South Korea, the Middle East, and India.
Napier
Type: AI-driven compliance platform
Country: United Kingdom
Started in: 2015
Founder: Julian Dixon
Napier represents a fresh wave of specialists in financial crime compliance technology. This business gained £45.0m GROWTH EQUITY VC in February 2024.
The Napier platform is a user-friendly solution, simple in management and scaling. With its help, you can meet all the compliance obligations, while strengthening your AML defenses at the same time.
Top SaaS startups in InsurTech
In the insurance tech industry, the following companies became notable in recent years.
Root Insurance
Type: insurance app
Country: United States
Started in: 2015
Founders: Alex Timm, Dan Manges, Matt Armstead
Root Insurance is a property casualty insurtech that provides tailored and budget-friendly coverage through a user-friendly app. This startup is the US first licensed insurance carrier that is entirely mobile. The app now has over 12 million downloads and works in 34 states.
AKUR8
Type: insurance pricing solution
Country: France
Started in: 2018
Founders: Guillaume Beraud-Sudreau, Samuel Falmagne
AKUR8 is an AI-powered platform for insurance pricing automation and optimization. It helps insurance carriers increase their profits by creating pricing models in hours, which is ten times quicker than with the help of conventional solutions. The company operates in over 40 countries across the globe.
Next Insurance
Type: insurance provider for small businesses
Country: United States
Started in: 2016
Founders: Alon Huri, Guy Goldstein, Nissim Tapiro
Next Insurance is a digital insurance company that provides specialized coverage for entrepreneurs and small businesses. It offers simple and cost-efficient solutions for small businesses, tailored to more than 1300 professions.
Learning from top SaaS startups
Examining the best SaaS startups in 2024 allows us to certain success patterns. While they aren't a one-fits-all approach and can vary depending on your niche and situation, the most common of them are the following.
Funding potential
Promising SaaS startups often manage to secure substantial funding. This, in turn, helps them achieve sustainable growth, innovation, and market expansion.
Product-market fit
Successful SaaS startups usually strive to meet that precise alignment between products and market needs. This helps them maximize the chances of widespread adoption of their products or services and achieve customer satisfaction.
Unique characteristics
SaaS startups that stand out among competitors usually have distinctive features or approaches, bringing a fresh perspective to the market. This allows them to achieve brand recognition and customer loyalty.
Agile development
SaaS companies that embrace agile development methodologies can swiftly adapt to market shifts, user feedback, and emerging trends.
Scalability
Top SaaS companies create scalable solutions that can cater to a wider audience without compromising performance or user experience.
User-centric design
SaaS startups can distinguish themselves and stand out among competitors by prioritizing user experience. This can be achieved with the help of intuitive design and seamless interfaces.
Effective marketing strategies
By developing and implementing powerful marketing campaigns and embracing content marketing, SEO, and social media, top SaaS companies can help reach and acquire customers.
Conclusion
Deciding to launch a SaaS startup might not be the easiest decision, especially in today’s turbulent market. However, if not now, then when? Discover the top-performing startups in different niches and things you can learn from them to successfully launch your new business.