The SaaS industry has expanded significantly in the last 10 years, with many new companies now offering specialized software for specific industries and niches. These are called vertical SaaS companies.

Unlike broad horizontal SaaS platforms, Vertical SaaS delivers deep functionality tailored to a particular niche.

This article highlights 16 top vertical SaaS companies to watch in 2023. Though at different growth stages, these show the transformative potential of vertical SaaS across industries.

Let’s dive in!

What is Vertical SaaS?

Vertical SaaS refers to software-as-a-service targeted to a specific industry or niche, unlike broad horizontal SaaS platforms.

As we explored in our comparison of vertical and horizontal SaaS, vertical SaaS is customized for a particular sector’s specialized workflows and terminology. For example, vertical SaaS may provide tailored solutions for construction, legal, e-commerce, or salon businesses.

This focused approach allows vendors to gain expertise in an industry’s unique needs. Their purpose-built solutions can directly address niche pain points through capabilities optimized for customers’ established workflows.

While vertical SaaS startups serve a smaller market, their ability to provide customized and industry-specific tools leads to faster adoption in the target niche. But it requires a rigorous upfront focus to build vertical SaaS compared to generalized platforms.

Now let’s examine some of the most promising vertical SaaS companies taking this targeted approach.

16 Top Vertical SaaS Companies of 2023

Birdeye

Industry: Customer Experience Management
Revenue: $69.6 million
Funding Raised: $93 million
Valuation: $100 to $500 million as of Mar 10, 2022
Year Founded: 2012
Headquarters: Palo Alto, CA

Customer Experience and Online Reputation Management – Birdeye is a software company that develops an all-in-one experience marketing platform for multi-location businesses. The platform helps businesses grow by attracting new leads with listings, reviews, and referrals, converting them into customers with webchat and appointments, and delighting those customers with surveys, ticketing, and insights. Over 60,000 businesses use Birdeye every day to manage customer feedback, reviews, and online reputation

Brightwheel

Industry: Early Education
Revenue: $13.8 million
Funding Raised: $88.8 million
Valuation: $545 million
Year Founded: 2014
Headquarters: San Francisco, CA

Brightwheel is a software company that develops an all-in-one platform for early education, serving as the hub for preschool, daycare, and after-school programs. The platform helps pre-kindergarten teachers and care providers manage their business while sending parents updates about their kids throughout the school day. Brightwheel’s vision is to provide high-quality early education for every child, enabling teachers to spend more time with students and engaging parents in their children’s development.

Buildium

Industry: Property Management
Revenue: $9.9 million
Funding Raised: $85 million
Valuation: Acquired for $580 million in 2019
Year Founded: 2004
Headquarters: Boston, MA

Buildium is a software company that provides cloud-based property management software to landlords, professional property management companies, and self-managed condos and homeowners associations. Founded in 2004 and headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, Buildium’s property management software allows real estate professionals to manage property portfolios, including leasing, accounting, and operations.

CB Insights

Industry: Market Intelligence
Revenue: $94 million
Funding Raised: $16.17 million
Year Founded: 2009
Headquarters: New York, NY

CB Insights is a private company with a business analytics platform and global database that provides market intelligence on private companies and investor activities. The platform is targeted at private equity, venture capital, investment banking, angel investing, and consulting professionals, providing insights about high-growth private companies. CB Insights uses a combination of big data tools and algorithms, as well as sentiment analysis on publicly available signals to gather and analyze data about private companies, investors, and industries.

Classplus

Industry: Education
Revenue: $96.1 million
Funding Raised: $129.5 million
Valuation: $570 million
Year Founded: 2015
Headquarters: Noida, India

Classplus is a mobile-first SaaS platform that enables private coaching institutes, teachers, and content creators to launch their online teaching business. The platform helps offline coaching institutes streamline their video distribution, payments, communication, and online assessments through a single platform. Classplus aims to empower teachers and believes that they are the backbone of Indian education, providing them with the tools to sustain their livelihoods and retain their students in an increasingly digital world.

Classy

Industry: Nonprofit Fundraising
Revenue: $54 million
Funding Raised: $187 million
Valuation: $500 million to $1 billion as of April 20, 2021
Year Founded: 2006
Headquarters: San Diego, CA

Classy is a software company that provides a fundraising platform for nonprofits to manage their fundraising campaigns and donor relationships. The platform enables organizations to create and manage online fundraising campaigns, accept donations, and track donor data. Classy’s vision is to empower nonprofits to create a more just and compassionate world by providing them with the tools and resources they need to succeed.

Housecall Pro

Industry: Home Services
Revenue: $164.3 million
Funding Raised: $175 million
Valuation: $1.15 billion
Year Founded: 2013
Headquarters: Denver, CO

Housecall Pro is a software company that offers a platform for home service professionals to manage their operations, including scheduling, dispatching, and invoicing. The platform helps businesses streamline their operations, improve communication, and increase efficiency, allowing them to focus on providing high-quality services to their customers.

Lucidworks

Industry: Enterprise Search
Revenue: $48 million
Funding Raised: $209 million
Valuation: $370 million
Year Founded: 2007
Headquarters: San Francisco, CA

Lucidworks is a software company that provides a platform for businesses to build search and data discovery applications. The platform enables organizations to create custom search applications that help users find and access the information they need quickly and efficiently.

Madwire

Industry: Retail Marketing
Revenue: $50 million
Funding Raised: $28.5 million
Valuation: $600 million
Year Founded: 2009
Headquarters: Fort Collins, CO

Madwire is a software company that offers a comprehensive marketing platform for small businesses to manage their online presence, advertising, and customer relationships. The platform provides businesses with the tools they need to create and manage their online marketing campaigns, track their performance, and engage with their customers.

Netcore Cloud

Industry: Marketing Automation
Revenue: $211.5 million
Funding Raised: $3.2 million
Valuation: $800-900 million
Year Founded: 1997
Headquarters: Mumbai, India

Netcore Cloud is a software company that provides a suite of marketing automation tools for businesses to manage their email, SMS, and push notification campaigns. The platform enables businesses to create, manage, and analyze their marketing campaigns, helping them reach their target audience and drive engagement.

Nitrogen (Riskalyze)

Industry: Financial Services
Revenue: $63 million
Funding Raised: $23.7 million
Valuation: over $300 million as of 2021 (acquired by Hg Capital)
Year Founded: 2011
Headquarters: Auburn, CA

Nitrogen, previously known as Riskalyze, is a software company that offers a platform that empowers financial advisors to manage their clients’ risk and make investment decisions. The platform provides tools for advisors to assess their clients’ risk tolerance, create personalized investment portfolios, and monitor their performance.

Quick Base

Industry: Low-code Application Development
Revenue: $200 million
Funding Raised: $90 million
Valuation: $1 billion
Year Founded: 1999
Headquarters: Boston, MA

Quick Base is a software company that provides a platform for businesses to build, customize, and deploy applications with minimal coding. The platform enables organizations to create custom applications that meet their unique needs, streamline their operations, and improve their efficiency.

Retool

Industry: Internal Tool Building
Revenue: $64.4 million
Funding Raised: $141 million
Valuation: $3.2 billion
Year Founded: 2017
Headquarters: San Francisco, CA

Retool is a software company that provides a platform for businesses to build custom internal tools quickly and efficiently. The platform enables organizations to create custom applications that help them streamline their operations, improve their efficiency, and better serve their customers.

Shopmonkey

Industry: Automotive
Revenue: $7.2 million
Funding Raised: $110 million
Year Founded: 2016
Headquarters: San Jose, CA

Shopmonkey is a software company that offers a cloud-based auto repair shop management software that streamlines operations, improves communication, and increases efficiency. The platform enables auto repair shops to manage their scheduling, invoicing, and customer communication, helping them provide better service and grow their business.

Vendr

Industry: SaaS Purchasing
Revenue: $87.5 million
Funding Raised: $216 million
Valuation: $1 billion
Year Founded: 2018
Headquarters: Boston, MA

Vendr is a software company that provides a platform for businesses to manage and optimize their SaaS purchasing and renewal processes. The platform enables organizations to track their software subscriptions, negotiate better pricing, and ensure they are getting the most value from their SaaS investments.

Ycharts

Industry: Financial Data and Analytics
Revenue: $25.2 million
Funding Raised: $14.62 million
Year Founded: 2009
Headquarters: Chicago, Illinois

Ycharts is a software company that offers a platform for businesses to access financial data, analytics, and visualization tools. The platform enables organizations to analyze their data, create custom reports, and make data-driven decisions to improve their financial performance.

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Alex Powell

Alex Powell is a senior tech and business media writer with a passion for breaking down complex tech topics into easy-to-understand information. He holds a degree in Business Administration and a master's in Journalism. When he's not writing, Alex enjoys hiking and reading books.