Is The Indian SaaS Story Overhyped?

Entrepreneur India speaks to startup experts to get a clear picture of where India’s SaaS industry stands today and its near future

- S Shanthi

India's SaaS industry is projected to generate revenue of $50-70B and win 4-6 per cent of the global SaaS market by 2030, creating as much as $1 trillion in value.

As the world went remote during the pandemic, many companies, from small and medium enterprises to large companies, adopted software-as-a service (SaaS) with open arms. Or, rather they were forced to embrace it. According to a report by SaaSBOOMi and McKinsey, India’s SaaS industry is projected to generate revenue of $50-70 billion and win 4-6 per cent of the global SaaS market by 2030, creating as much as $1 trillion in value. However, we at Entrepreneur India, observed that the number of SaaS soonicorns, as mentioned in the list prepared by PGA Labs, the market intelligence business unit of Praxis Global Alliance, is not significant. Out of the 36 soonicorns in the list, that is startups valued above $200 million and have the potential to be unicorns in the next 12-18 months, including Dunzo, Capital Float, Classplus, only one startup, that is GreyOrange, is from the SaaS segment.

SAAS SOONI CORNS & UNICORNS

Last month, Freshworks became the first Indian software maker to list on Nasdaq. “SaaS companies in India are gaining acceptance and attention from investors. Initially, investors were slow due to the nature of revenue which is a money sucker but as the customer base grew with a lower drop, the revenue started to look good. Things have changed a lot after Postman and Freshworks. Indian SaaS companies are now seriously looked at as potential unicorns,” said Anil Joshi, managing partner, Unicorn India Ventures. The SaaS ecosystem is relatively nascent in India and is led by players such as Freshworks, Capillary, Eka, etc., said Anurag