Best SaaS Startups for Sale: App Builder, Music, Productivity, and More (August 2024)

You’re reclining in your chair, sipping coffee and daydreaming of your next startup – what will it look like? How much money will it make? Will this be the one that changes your life?

We’re here to make answering those questions easier with another hot deal review! Join Andrew Gazdecki, founder and CEO of Acquire.com, and Rainier Nanquil, Director of M&A, as they explore August’s best SaaS startups for sale.

Could your next venture be one of these incredible acquisition opportunities? Only one way to find out. Watch the full breakdown below or skip to the deals and let us know which startups you like best by shouting us out on X (Twitter) or LinkedIn.

Who Are Your Presenters?

Andrew Gazdecki, founder and CEO of Acquire.com

Andrew Gazdecki is the founder and CEO of Acquire.com and a lifelong entrepreneur. He bootstrapped his first business, Bizness Apps, to $10 million in annual recurring revenue, which he later sold to a private equity firm in a life-changing acquisition. Since then, he’s sold two more businesses, bought one, and founded the world’s largest startup acquisition marketplace.  

Having been on sides of the M&A table, as a buyer and a seller, Andrew knows how complex and difficult acquisitions can be. He started Acquire.com to fix the complex acquisition process and make it easier for founders to get acquired, and he’s excited to share his knowledge with you today.

Rainier Nanquil, Managing Director of M&A

Rainier has over a decade of experience in M&A, capital markets, and investment sales. He’s been part of over a billion dollars of deal volume sourced, analyzed, and brokered. Previously, Rainier was at Empire Flippers, Cushman and Wakefield, and Marcus and Millichap. Rainier’s goal is to help clients get the best price, terms, and transaction experience possible.

What Makes Us Special?

Since 2019, we’ve marked some incredible milestones (and world-firsts) in the acquisition space, testament to the talent, services, and technology we put behind your acquisition. 

We’ve helped over 2,000 startups exit, closed nearly a billion dollars in transaction volume, and registered over 500,000 buyers. Live internationally? No problem – we’re active in over 100 countries and in every continent except Antarctica, with a multilingual M&A team to support cross-border transactions.

What Will You Learn From This Deal Review?

You’ll discover our top listings, why we love them, and tips on how you might earn a return on investment. We know our market better than anyone, and you can use our insights to make better choices about your next acquisition, or if you’re selling, learn how buyers will assess your business. 

How We Vet Your Deals

We’ve invested hundreds of thousands of dollars into a world-class curation and advisory team to publish the best listings only so you don’t waste time on founders unwilling to sell or at a fair market price.

Strict Curation

Only around 45 percent of startups make it through our curation process. We verify the seller’s ID and business, review their goals, and prepare them for acquisition, ensuring you get the highest quality deal flow and founders who’re easy to work with and committed to closing.

SaaS Specialists

We have the biggest pool of SaaS companies and buyers in the world. We love the SaaS business model and the problems it solves. You can acquire other business types, but our biggest market is SaaS.

Expert Support

On the seller side, we offer expert support in-house. Our M&A success team helps sellers with everything from perfecting listings to navigating due diligence. Why? To help sellers succeed while ensuring you get all the info you need when you start acquisition talks. For example: is there a P&L? A confidential information memorandum (CIM)? Due diligence checklist? Transition plan? And so on.

Listing Scorecard

When you evaluate a SaaS startup for acquisition, you might not know where to start. The same is true of sellers listing for the first time. To help, we’ve developed the listing scorecard – a checklist we use to ensure sellers and buyers start from the best possible foundation. 

For example, we’ll check the seller has completed their profile, uploaded a P&L, and connected their metrics, and so on. Have they prepared everything you need as a buyer to evaluate that business and make an offer? Is this price within market expectations? 

The listing scorecard benefits you and the seller, ensuring you’re aligned when talks begin. You want the seller to understand the acquisition process and be ready to answer your questions quickly. Likewise, the seller wants to keep you engaged to encourage a fair offer. 

How to View the Full Listings Featured in This Deal Review

To view the full listing and chat to the founder, click the “View listing” link under the startup breakdown below, and request access by signing a mutual NDA. You can only do this with a paid subscription to one of our buyer plans. 

Premium and Platinum buyer subscriptions give you access to closing tools such as LOI and APA builders, free escrow, and unlimited access to deals within your plan’s limits. To find out which buyer plan is right for you, check out our pricing page. 

Monthly SaaS Deal Review (August 2024)

Please note that the deals we discuss below may no longer be active on the marketplace. As some of our best SaaS listings, they’re in high demand and typically go under offer within a few days. 

Deal 1: Fast, Easy, and Affordable App Builder for iOS & Android

Highlights

• Asking price: $450k (4.4x profit, 2.6x revenue)
• TTM revenue: $176k
• TTM profit: $101k
• Growth rate: 111%
• Founded: 2022

View full listing

Watch the breakdown

Deal 2: Streamlining Digital Music Software Distribution with 85% Gross Margin on B2B Services

Highlights

• Asking price: $650k (3.9x profit, 1.7x revenue)
• TTM revenue: $380k
• TTM profit: $166k
• Growth rate: 50%
• Founded: 2021

View full listing

Watch the breakdown

Deal 3: Automatically generates alt text to boost SEO and improve accessibility.

Highlights

• Asking price: $1.3M (4.7x profit, 3x revenue)
• TTM revenue: $435k
• TTM profit: $276k
• Growth rate: 638%
• Founded: 2022

View full listing

Watch the breakdown

Deal 4: User-friendly video testimonial and survey-building platform for high revenue-generating businesses

Highlights

• Asking price: $1.1M (4x profit, 2.7x revenue)
• TTM revenue: $402k
• TTM profit: $272k
• Growth rate: -12%
• Founded: 2014

View full listing

Watch the breakdown

Deal 5: Award-winning SaaS productivity app

Highlights

• Asking price: $1.1M (4x profit, 2.3x revenue)
• TTM revenue: $465k
• TTM profit: $265k
• Growth rate: 0%
• Founded: 2016

View full listing

Watch the breakdown

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Q&A

Does Acquire.com take a fee for buying and selling businesses?

Yes, please visit the buyer and seller pricing pages to learn more about fees and benefits.

Is Acquire.com incentivized to influence pricing in any way?

No, we don’t set asking prices but report on the prices at which startups get acquired to help you set a realistic valuation range. You don’t need to take our recommendations, though it’s unlikely we’ll list your business at price that buyers won’t pay. That said, if we’re at all incentivized, it’s to help you sell at the highest price possible due to the closing fee, though sometimes the terms are more important – every deal is different. Our goal is to help you get the highest price and friendliest terms while still achieving your goals. 

How are acquisitions usually financed and structured on Acquire.com?

We see most types of financing, including SBA and alternative financing, and a range of creative deal structures including post-closing conditions like earnouts and holdbacks. Many acquisitions involve a post-closing condition, especially at higher purchase prices, to minimize risk to the buyer. For sellers, creative deal structures are an effective way to close the gap on your and the buyer’s price expectations. 

Does a growth rate of 0% mean the founder isn’t maintaining the business?

Not always, no, and you’re always better asking the founder while growth has stalled. It might be because they lack the skills to grow the business further, don’t have time to invest into growth strategies, or have put the business on maintenance mode while they pursue other interests. Every possible scenario can influence how you evaluate the business for acquisition, so speak to the founder for their rationale. 

Is it normal to wait four to five years for a startup to repay its investment?

Yes. Acquiring a startup is a medium to long term investment. Trying to flip a startup a year or two after acquiring it is possible when there’s a lot of upside potential, but profitable, growing startups are in high demand, and as a result, may take a few years to earn a return – if you do nothing but maintain it. But if you have the skills and experience to accelerate growth, your investment can pay off much faster.

Is there a resource on your platform to help match a prospective buyer to a listing that makes sense as an acquisition based on their business strengths? 

Yes! When you sign up as a buyer, we ask for your acquisition criteria and recommend matching startups the moment they go live (by email or instant notification). You’ll also see these startups at the top of your deals list when you log in. We may also reach out to you if we have an ideal startup in mind, many of which will be under our guidance. You don’t have to manually search the marketplace unless you want to.

Any suggestions on buying a newsletter? 

If you want to buy a newsletter and earn a return on your investment, make many of the checks you’d make on any other business. How is the seller monetizing the newsletter? Is their audience growing? How could you grow the business? Review the financials, business model, assets, customers, competitors, and so on until you’re satisfied it’s a low-risk acquisition opportunity. If in doubt, speak to the founder.

Do you offer a verified breakdown of business expenses for each listing?

We can do financial recasts for startups under our guidance, but you should always conduct your own financial due diligence before confirming an offer. We don’t audit accounts, income, or expenses for founders or buyers currently. 

Would I have to pay a higher purchase price if I wanted the founder to stay on for longer than the average transition period?

The transition period is certainly a bargaining chip. Having the founder stay on to help you with the business post-acquisition can result in faster wins for you. They know their business better than anyone so would be able to offer lots of guidance while you kickstarted your growth strategies. But it doesn’t always mean you need to pay a higher purchase price. You can incentivize them to stay on in other ways, such as offering retained equity, more cash upfront, or keeping team members on in the business. You could even compensate them for consulting hours.

If I’ve run SaaS businesses before, what are the risks of acquiring one in an industry I’m unfamiliar with?

Being unfamiliar with an industry is only a risk if you don’t do your homework. You can learn so much from the founder during the acquisition to make your transition into the new industry easier. They can tell you everything from who your competitors are to what customers care about. There will be similarities – churn is churn, ARR is ARR – but every industry has different ways of acquiring and providing value for customers. You might have a period of learning before you can leverage your expertise to push growth.

What questions should I ask the founder of a mobile app and are there any advantages over traditional SaaS companies?

A mobile app and a conventional SaaS business are different but the business models are similar. With a mobile app SaaS, you’re always going to be constrained by the iPhone or Android ecosystems. Beyond the usual financial metrics, you’ll also need to understand on which platform(s) the mobile app is available, who developed the app, whether it’s cross-platform, and if so, the differences on each (if any), and how the app acquires customers. One of the biggest advantages of a mobile app is that you have built-in distribution and the opportunity to unlock growth by porting the app to other ecosystems. 

Every business vertical has some kind of counterparty risk, which is often outside of your control. What you can control is financial performance by applying your skills and experience to the momentum the business has already made. 

Is it okay to ask the founder what offers have already come in and at what price and terms?

You can, though in our experience, a better question would be, “What do I need to do to win the deal?”. That way, it doesn’t sound like you’re playing off other buyers’ offers. The founder will then tell you what they’re looking for in price, terms, and so on. You can make it a win-win situation by asking the founder what’s important to them, and if you can provide that, you know where to pitch your offer. 

What financing is available to acquire businesses on Acquire.com?

We have several preferred lenders we work with from SBA lenders to alternative lenders active in many different industries. One of the advantages of working with us on your acquisition is that we’ve encountered many different ways you can structure a deal to close the gap on pricing. That could be a mix of acquisition financing, seller financing, earnouts, and more.  

What’s the best way to tell sellers you don’t want to keep their employees?

Be upfront about it. Don’t wait until you’re in the middle of due diligence to tell the founder. Give them enough time to communicate this to their teams and make alternative arrangements for them if possible. Employee dismissals are an emotional issue as much as a financial one, and sudden changes in job security can cause the founder a great deal of stress. It’s always better to be upfront as founders can be emotionally invested in their team and won’t want them to lose their jobs.

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The content on this site is not intended to provide legal, financial, or M&A advice. It is for information purposes only, and any links provided are for your convenience. Please seek the services of an M&A professional before entering into any M&A transaction. It is not Acquire’s intention to solicit or interfere with any established relationship you may have with any M&A professional.