SaaS Valuation Multiples: The Reset Is Permanent
The 2021 multiples were not a baseline. They were an anomaly we are not returning to.
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Elena RossiContributor, The Signal
Public SaaS multiples have settled into a band roughly half of the 2021 peak. The market did not crash; it normalized. Founders and operators planning around a return to 2021 multiples are planning around an environment that is not coming back at any predictable timeframe.
The implication is operational: capital efficiency is not a temporary discipline, and the next exit, if it happens, will be valued on metrics that look much more like the 2017 baseline than the 2021 peak.