Cledara raises $20 million to help companies control their SaaS sprawl • TechCrunch

Cledara, a software management platform that gives companies greater control and insights into their SaaS subscriptions, has raised $20 million in a series A round of funding.

Founded out of London in 2018, Cledara is setting out to help companies of all sizes deal with so-called SaaS sprawl, with some companies subscribing to as many as 200 distinct online services through the browser. While this is testament to the benefits of the SaaS business model and the broader cloud movement, it can also create a somewhat unwieldy administrative landscape for IT departments trying to keep a handle on everything that they’re paying for.

And that, effectively, is where Cledara enters the fray, serving as a “system of record” that gives insights into what applications are being used, costs, spend analytics and forecasts, renewal reminders, and more. Its customers, which include online travel search giant Trivago, manage more than 2,500 different SaaS products through the Cledara platform, allowing them to centralize all their payments in a single platform.

Cledara platform Image credits: Cledara

This also gives Cledara a lot of data into SaaS trends and patterns, which the companies uses as part of its recently-launched Cledara Discover product, which helps companies choose the most suitable SaaS applications for their needs.

“Cledara now holds the largest data set in the world about SaaS purchasing, usage, renewal and cancellation for software buyers in 28 countries,” Cledara cofounder and CEO Cristina Vila told TechCrunch. “Cledara Discover uses that data to help companies select the optimal software based on their existing stack, vertical, geography, size and stage.

Cledara had previously raised a small pre-seed round of funding back in 2019, followed by a seed round a year later, taking its total financing to a little more than $4 million. The company also recently announced its launch into the U.S. market where it now counts an office in Denver, Colorado. But while its latest funding will be used to help drive its growth in the U.S. market, the bulk of its employees will remain in its existing London and Barcelona Offices.

Cledara’s series A round was led by CommerzVentures, with participation from Nauta Capital, Notion Capital, Carbide Ventures, and Massive.