The UK SaaS market: Europe’s hotspot for tech innovation
Elise Howard | MAY 13, 2022
9 min read
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
Company Name
Wise (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
Company Name
GoCardless
HQ
London, England
Year Founded
2011
Headcount
746
Global Offices
4
Company Name
Checkout.com
HQ
London, England
Year Founded
2012
Headcount
1604
Global Offices
14
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Company Name
Verisk (Formerly Sequel)
HQ
London, England
Year Founded
1993
Headcount
405
Global Offices
4
Company Name
Zepz
HQ
London, England
Year Founded
2010
Headcount
939
Global Offices
15
Company Name
Radius
HQ
Crewe, England
Year Founded
1990
Headcount
877
Global Offices
10
Finance | ERP
Company Name
Sage
HQ
Newcastle, England
Year Founded
1999
Headcount
14,965
Global Offices
10
Overview
• ERP software solutions for accounting, HR management and payroll, helping businesses stay up to date with guidelines and legislation
• Third-largest ERP software supplier in the world
Company Name
Brightpearl
HQ
Bristol, England
Year Founded
2007
Headcount
186
Global Offices
2
Company Name
Resource Guru
HQ
London, England
Year Founded
2011
Headcount
20
Global Offices
1
Travel
Company Name
Triptease
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
Company Name
Duffel
HQ
London, England
Year Founded
2017
Headcount
74
Global Offices
2
Company Name
Impala
HQ
London, England
Year Founded
2016
Headcount
114
Global Offices
2
Company Name
Zamna
HQ
London, England
Year Founded
2017
Headcount
74
Global Offices
2
IT & Security
Company Name
OneTrust
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
Company Name
Snyk
HQ
London, England
Year Founded
2015
Headcount
1,165
Global Offices
4
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Company Name
Onfido
HQ
London, England
Year Founded
2012
Headcount
611
Global Offices
13
Sales
Company Name
Cognism
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
Company Name
Allego
HQ
Newcastle, England
Year Founded
2013
Headcount
228
Global Offices
2
Company Name
LeadForensics
HQ
London, England
Year Founded
2009
Headcount
917
Global Offices
6
Company Name
Airnow
HQ
London, England
Year Founded
2010
Headcount
51
Global Offices
3
Company Name
Vizolution
HQ
Swansea, Wales
Year Founded
2013
Headcount
89
Global Offices
1
Company Name
Limitless
HQ
London, England
Year Founded
2016
Headcount
98
Global Offices
1
Marketing
Company Name
Coveo
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
Company Name
Driftrock
HQ
London, England
Year Founded
2013
Headcount
30
Global Offices
1
Company Name
LoopMe
HQ
London, England
Year Founded
2012
Headcount
252
Global Offices
15
Company Name
ScreenCloud
HQ
London, England
Year Founded
2015
Headcount
120
Global Offices
3
Company Name
Onalytica
HQ
London, England
Year Founded
2009
Headcount
49
Global Offices
2
Company Name
Seenit
HQ
London, England
Year Founded
2014
Headcount
33
Global Offices
1
HR
Company Name
Sideways 6
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
Company Name
Perkbox
HQ
London, England
Year Founded
2015
Headcount
192
Global Offices
2
Company Name
Breathe
HQ
London, England
Year Founded
2012
Headcount
73
Global Offices
1
Company Name
Bright HR
HQ
Manchester, England
Year Founded
2015
Headcount
253
Global Offices
5
Business Ops| Analytics
Company Name
Black Swan Data
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
Company Name
GoSquared
HQ
London, England
Year Founded
2006
Headcount
9
Global Offices
1
Company Name
Geckoboard
HQ
London, England
Year Founded
2010
Headcount
31
Global Offices
2
Company Name
FullCircl
HQ
Winnersh, England
Year Founded
2006
Headcount
62
Global Offices
2
Company Name
Chattermill
HQ
London, England
Year Founded
2006
Headcount
62
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.
Headquartered in London, Vertice is a SaaS purchasing platform that works on our customers’ behalf to simplify SaaS stack management, helping finance and procurement teams achieve cost savings and price transparency.
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