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SaaS businesses continue to demonstrate resilience in 2025 despite challenging macroeconomic conditions.
The rebound of Q3-Q4 2024 renewed optimism across the M&A industry, but the new year also brought a sharper focus from investors and buyers, who are looking beyond topline growth and are now rewarding companies with strong fundamentals, efficient growth, and clear market fit.
“After the worst decline in dealmaking since the global financial crisis, buyout investment value took a bounce back in 2024, increasing 37% year over year to $602 billion, excluding add-on deals”, described Bain & Company in their Global Private Equity Outlook 2025.
For founders planning an exit, understanding what today’s buyers truly value is essential to positioning effectively. A seasoned M&A advisor can translate the shifting economic indicators into valuation expectations tailored to your business and help you anticipate how those dynamics may shape the outcome of a sale.
This article breaks down how to benchmark effectively, understand what drives premium valuations, and approach your exit with strategic clarity.
As of 2025, public SaaS valuations vary significantly. A handful of top-performing companies are still trading at 8–10x EV/Revenue or more, while the majority fall between 4–6x.
For private SaaS founders, public comps are useful as a reference but not as a direct benchmark since most private transactions are priced according to different priorities.
Strategic acquirers often prioritize long-term fit by valuing factors like product synergies or market expansion that aren’t reflected in public multiples, while financial buyers often focus on EBITDA and cash flow visibility.
At L40°, we help founders make sense of the market signals and understand what valuation range is realistic based on their business model and strategic alignment.
Key takeaway: Use public market data as context, not a valuation target. Your company’s value will depend on fundamentals and fit.
Private SaaS valuations in 2025 reflect a wide spectrum, shaped by business quality and buyer priorities. Strong companies with clear product-market fit, durable growth, and efficient operations can still command 8–10x revenue multiples. However, many deals fall between 4–7x, with some lower depending on risk factors like high churn or customer concentration.
Strategic acquirers tend to show stronger interest in vertical SaaS, embedded finance, and AI-native platforms, especially when those features enhance integration or competitive positioning.
“As new technologies are developed, AI companies could then be open to acquisitions by larger, revenue-generating organizations”, wrote Datasite’s CEO, Rusty Wiley, in Forbes.
Financial sponsors remain active but are pricing deals more carefully, often based on the company’s EBITDA and their ability to create value over a 3–5 year window.
If you’re considering an exit, it’s critical to understand where your business sits within this range and how different buyers might evaluate it.
Key takeaway: Valuation isn’t one-size-fits-all. It reflects your performance and how buyers see their return path. L40° brings clarity to that equation.
Buyers and investors focus on a set of core metrics when evaluating SaaS companies. While no single number guarantees a premium valuation, the following benchmarks help explain how value is assessed in practice:
These benchmarks are not rigid thresholds. Every company has a unique story, and buyers will weigh certain metrics more heavily depending on the deal context. At L40°, we provide founders with tailored assessments that connect financial performance with market expectations, making sure you know how buyers will interpret your data.
Many founders approach M&A with outdated assumptions, expecting valuations based on past headlines or public outliers. But in 2025, buyers will be more selective and focused on durability.
A fair valuation depends on how well your company fits with a buyer’s goals and whether that’s expanding product offerings, entering a new market, or strengthening a competitive position.
At L40°, we guide founder-led processes with focus and discretion. We help clients define their valuation story, drive buyer conversations, and run competitive, efficient processes that highlight fit and maximize leverage.
Exploring an exit in 2025? Contact us.
