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This Week in SaaS - Jan 13 - 19, 2026

Top exits, deals, news, and blog posts of the week

By
Ryan Allis
January 19, 2026

📚 New Blog Posts & Videos

  1. Video: If I Started a SaaS in 2026, I'd Do This 🎥
  2. How to Create Retargeting Ads on Meta, Google, and LinkedIn
  3. How to Create Lookalike Ads on Meta, Google, and LinkedIn
  4. How to Create Matched Audience Ads on Meta, Google, and LinkedIn
  5. Introducing Pulse: The World’s Best News Reader
  6. CEO Mastermind Recaps for the Week of Jan 12 - 15, 2026


💸 Big SaaS VC Rounds 

  1. Parloa (enterprise customer-experience AI agent management platform; SaaS) – raised a $350M Series D on Jan 15, 2026; funds will accelerate U.S./Europe expansion and enhance its AI Agent Management Platform capabilities and reliability initiatives.

  2. Deepgram (speech-to-text and voice AI API platform; SaaS) – raised a $130M Series C on Jan 13, 2026; funds will scale product development and go-to-market for enterprise voice AI.

  3. Mytra (supply-chain “operating system” for logistics/warehouse execution; SaaS) – raised a $120M Series C on Jan 15, 2026; funds will scale its operating system for supply chain operations.

  4. osapiens (enterprise sustainability and compliance software; SaaS) – raised a $100M financing on Jan 14, 2026; funds will scale its enterprise software platform for sustainable growth as it reaches unicorn status.

  5. Higgsfield (AI video-generation platform; SaaS) – raised an $80M Series A extension on Jan 15, 2026; funds will scale product and expand its AI video platform.

  6. Listen Labs (AI-first customer research platform; SaaS) – raised a $69M Series B on Jan 14, 2026; funds will expand product and bring customer feedback into more decision workflows.

  7. Vista AI (automated MRI scanning software for providers; SaaS) – raised a $29.5M Series B on Jan 14, 2026; funds will scale automated MRI scanning deployment across health systems.

  8. Project Eleven (post-quantum security + migration tooling for digital-asset infrastructure; SaaS) – raised a $20M funding round on Jan 14, 2026; funds will harden and prepare digital-asset infrastructure for the quantum era.

  9. Dominion Dynamics (software-defined defense sensing/autonomy + command-and-control backbone; SaaS) – raised a $15.2M Seed on Jan 19, 2026; funds will accelerate deployment of its ruggedized sensor/network platform and advance its autonomous collaborative systems.

  10. SkyFi (satellite imagery + analytics access platform; SaaS) – raised a $12.7M Series A on Jan 14, 2026; funds will expand access to satellite imagery and analytics.

  11. Atomic Insights (payment workflow automation + money movement for wealth managers; SaaS) – raised a $10M Seed on Jan 14, 2026; funds will modernize payment workflows and infrastructure for RIAs and family offices. 

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🤝 SaaS M&A Deals 

  1. CrowdStrike announced its intent to acquire SGNL (~$740M; continuous identity privilege & runtime access control, US) – announced on Jan 13, 2026; this acquisition strengthens CrowdStrike’s identity-security posture by adding real-time, continuous access enforcement for human, non-human, and AI identities across SaaS and cloud environments.

  2. Francisco Partners sold STARLIMS to Turn/River (~$200M; lab informatics + workflow/regulatory controls software, US) – reported on Jan 13, 2026; this transaction underscores continued PE appetite for subscription-transitioned, cloud-migrated vertical software where product modernization (incl. AI) can compound value.

  3. NuView acquired Beyond Secure (~undisclosed; managed IT + cybersecurity services platform, US) – announced on Jan 13, 2026; this acquisition consolidates services and security capabilities into a broader managed platform offering. 

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🚀 SaaS IPOs & S-1 Filings 

  • Liftoff Mobile (mobile app performance marketing + monetization platform; SaaS; US) – publicly filed an S-1 on Jan 13, 2026 for a proposed IPO (Nasdaq “LFTO”); the filing initiates the public-markets process for a PE-backed app-growth infrastructure provider as the software IPO window reopens.
  • EquipmentShare (connected jobsite technology + equipment management platform; SaaS-enabled vertical software; US) – launched its IPO and began its roadshow on Jan 13, 2026; the offering terms (shares and price range) signaled investor appetite for construction-tech platforms that blend subscriptions with operations-heavy distribution.
  • Amagi Media Labs (cloud-based video workflow + CTV/FAST monetization platform; SaaS; India) – IPO opened Jan 13, 2026 and closed Jan 16, 2026, with shares expected to list on Jan 21, 2026; coverage highlighted planned investment into AI-led technology and cloud infrastructure while the company transitions into the public markets.

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🧠 Key Takeaways

  • From Anthropic’s latest Economic Index: AI leverage concentrates in senior talent (not junior), and performance improves when work is decomposed into clear sub-tasks—so invest in prompting/playbooks and redesign workflows for “chunkable” execution.

  • Treat “AI agents” like production systems: you’ll need observability + governance (logging, drift detection, audit trails, and eventually “master agents” that monitor other agents) because debugging breaks down fast as agent-count grows.

  • AI-native wins are increasingly about selling outcomes/work (agents as “colleagues,” long-horizon execution, always-on usage). That implies new UX (orchestration, oversight) and pricing that maps to value delivered—not just seats.

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📰 Community News

See you next week with the next edition ofThis Week in SaaS.

-Ryan Allis, CEO of SaasRise