The complete Sesamers guide to European SaaS and B2B software: where the money went, who is building and funding it, the three questions the sector cannot agree on, and how to get in.
Any company selling recurring-revenue software to businesses – vertical SaaS, procurement and finance tooling, HR software, sales and marketing platforms, and general enterprise infrastructure software. We include B2B marketplaces with a software core and exclude consumer software and pure applied-AI agent products, which are filed under Applied AI and agents.
Family
Software & SaaS
Coverage since
2019
Desks
3
Reviewed
20 Sep 2026
The desks
Each one is a live page – this pillar is the way in
Capital rewarded top-line growth over unit economics, and SaaS multiples reached levels that assumed rates would stay near zero indefinitely.
2022-24
The efficiency reset
Rising rates repriced growth-stage SaaS sharply. Net revenue retention and gross margin became the metrics that mattered, and down rounds and consolidation followed for weaker performers.
2025-26
AI-native re-platforming and consolidation
Well-capitalised buyers (Main Capital, Bending Spoons) are consolidating mature SaaS categories through acquisition, while new capital increasingly favours AI-native products over legacy workflow software.
Three open questions
Where informed people in this sector genuinely disagree
Is traditional per-seat SaaS pricing dying as AI agents do the work instead of humans?
A growing number of new products price per outcome or per task completed rather than per named user.
The case forIf an AI agent replaces the work a human seat used to do, charging per seat makes no sense – outcome-based pricing aligns the vendor's revenue with the value actually delivered, and several buyers are now demanding it.
The case againstPer-seat pricing remains simple to budget and forecast for buyers, and outcome-based pricing is harder to price fairly when the AI's output quality varies – many vendors quietly keep per-seat pricing even while marketing an agentic product.
Where we land: The pricing model is shifting for genuinely agentic products but not disappearing for collaborative software where humans still do the core work. Expect a mixed market for years, not a clean transition.
Does consolidation by private equity (Main Capital, Bending Spoons) help or hurt the European SaaS ecosystem?
Well-capitalised acquirers are buying up mature, profitable European SaaS businesses at an increasing pace, including large deals like Miro's acquisition.
The case forConsolidation gives founders and early investors a real exit path in a market where IPOs are rare, recycles capital and talent back into the ecosystem, and often gives acquired companies resources to scale that they lacked standalone.
The case againstRepeated consolidation by the same few acquirers concentrates market power, can mean promising products get folded into a larger portfolio and lose their independent trajectory, and reduces the number of standalone success stories the ecosystem can point to.
Where we land: On balance it strengthens the ecosystem – exits fund the next generation of founders and angels – but the concentration of buyers is worth watching if it starts to reduce genuine price competition among acquirers.
Can vertical SaaS still command premium multiples, or has AI commoditised narrow workflow software?
Vertical SaaS used to command a premium for deep, industry-specific workflow knowledge baked into the product.
The case forDeep vertical integration into an industry's specific data, compliance requirements and buyer relationships remains hard for a horizontal AI tool to replicate quickly, and the best vertical SaaS companies are now layering AI on top of their existing moat.
The case againstGeneral-purpose AI tools are increasingly capable of handling narrow workflows that used to require dedicated vertical software, and buyers are questioning why they should pay a premium for a point solution an AI agent could approximate.
Where we land: The premium survives for vertical SaaS with genuine proprietary data or regulatory integration; it erodes fast for vertical SaaS that was really just a configured horizontal workflow with an industry label on it.
How to get in
Three audiences, three short lists
If you are building
Get net revenue retention above 100% before you pitch a growth round – it is the single metric every fund on the investor desk checks first.
Decide whether AI genuinely changes your product's value proposition or is a feature bolted onto an existing workflow tool.
Name a category and own it narrowly before expanding horizontally.
Pick two events: one buyer-facing trade show, one investor-facing deal room.
If you are investing
Ask for net revenue retention and gross margin before the TAM slide – growth alone no longer justifies a premium multiple.
Underwrite AI-dependency risk explicitly: could a foundation model provider absorb this feature natively.
Check the buyer concentration – a small number of large accounts is a real risk in enterprise SaaS.
Use the funding desk to see who actually led rounds in the last 24 months.
If you are buying or partnering
Ask for a reference customer of similar size and industry to your own, not a logo wall.
Check integration depth with your existing stack before the pitch, not after signature.
Understand the pricing model fully – per-seat, per-outcome or usage-based each have very different total-cost implications.
Use the startup desk for a shortlist; use events for discovery, not for due diligence.
Who to know
Start on the desks – profiles update as we verify them
The percentage of recurring revenue retained from existing customers over a period, including upsells and minus churn – above 100% means existing customers are growing spend faster than they churn.
Outcome-based pricing
Charging based on results delivered (tasks completed, revenue generated) rather than a fixed per-seat or per-user fee.
Vertical SaaS
Software built specifically for one industry's workflow and compliance needs, as opposed to horizontal software usable across any business.
Buy-and-build
A private equity strategy of acquiring several companies in a category and combining them into a larger group, common in mature SaaS consolidation.
Gross margin
Revenue minus the direct cost of delivering the product, expressed as a percentage – a key health metric for judging whether a SaaS business scales profitably.
No – applied AI and agents covers products where AI performs the core work autonomously. SaaS and B2B software covers recurring-revenue business software more broadly, including products with AI features.
Why does this vertical have no dedicated events desk yet?
SaaS is too broad a category for a single meaningful events ranking – relevant trade shows are better found through the specific sub-vertical (HR tech, fintech, and so on).
How often does this page change?
The numbers come from the desks and move weekly. The written analysis is reviewed quarterly and the review date at the top is the honest one – if it is stale, the analysis is stale.
Can I suggest a company or fund for the desks?
Yes. Use the suggest links on each desk. We verify before publishing; paid placement does not get you onto a ranking or directory.
Counts are generated from the desks and refresh weekly. The written analysis is editorial and reviewed quarterly. Corrections and additions: contact the desk
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