The SaaS Capital Index: Median Public SaaS Multiple
The equal-weighted median ARR multiple across publicly traded pure-play SaaS companies, published monthly by SaaS Capital. Currently 3.4x, the lowest reading since 2011.
What the SaaS Capital Index Measures
The SaaS Capital Index is maintained by SaaS Capital, a provider of debt financing to B2B SaaS companies. It has published the index monthly since 2008, making it one of the longest-running public-SaaS valuation series, and it ships as a free downloadable data file rather than a paywalled product.
The headline figure is the median revenue (ARR) multiple across the index's publicly traded pure-play SaaS constituents. Two design choices matter. First, the index is equal-weighted: a $1B company and a $50B company count the same in the median, so the reading tracks the typical public SaaS business rather than the largest few. Second, it reports a median, not an average, so a handful of premium-multiple outliers cannot pull the headline upward.
That is why the SaaS Capital median (3.4x) sits well below the BVP Nasdaq Emerging Cloud Index average (6.6x). The two are measuring different populations with different statistics. For a private SaaS founder benchmarking an exit, the equal-weighted median is the more honest anchor, because your company is far more likely to resemble the median constituent than a market-cap-dominating cloud leader.
The Multiple Depends on Growth
The 3.4x median masks a wide spread. Joining the index's per-company multiple and growth-rate data for 31 May 2026 shows multiples scaling sharply with trailing revenue growth:
| Trailing Growth Band | Median Multiple | 25th-75th Pctile | Companies |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20-30% | 5.2x | 3.3x – 7.9x | 10 |
| 10-20% | 3.9x | 2.9x – 6.3x | 25 |
| Under 10% | 2.2x | 1.1x – 3.3x | 17 |
SaaS Capital Index Terms
- Median ARR multiple
- The middle value of EV/ARR across the index's constituents. Currently 3.4x (31 May 2026). A median, not an average, so outliers do not distort the headline.
- Equal-weighted
- Each constituent contributes equally to the statistic regardless of market capitalisation. The opposite of the market-cap weighting used by the BVP Nasdaq Emerging Cloud Index, which lets the largest names dominate.
- Pure-play SaaS
- Publicly traded companies whose revenue is predominantly recurring software subscriptions. Excludes diversified tech, hardware, and payments-led businesses that some broader cloud indices include.
- Percentile spread
- The dispersion around the median. As of 31 May 2026, the 25th percentile is 2.8x and the 75th is 6.8x, a reminder that growth and profitability move individual companies far from the median.
- Publisher
- SaaS Capital, a debt provider to B2B SaaS companies, has published the index monthly since 2008 as a free downloadable data file. Not a paywalled research product.
SaaS Capital vs the Other Two Indices
| Index | Statistic | Current | Weighting |
|---|---|---|---|
| SaaS Capital Index | Median ARR multiple | 3.4x (31 May 2026) | Equal-weighted, ~100 pure-play SaaS |
| Aventis Advisors | Median EV/Revenue | 3.4x (March 2026) | ~70 NASDAQ/NYSE pure-play SaaS, $1B+ cap |
| BVP Nasdaq Emerging Cloud Index | Average revenue multiple | 6.6x (10 June 2026) | Market-cap-weighted, 60-80 cloud names |
After the Q1 2026 AI re-rating the two median-based references agree: SaaS Capital (3.4x) and Aventis (3.4x). The BVP headline (6.6x) sits roughly twice as high because it is an average over a market-cap-weighted basket whose large AI and cloud beneficiaries held premium multiples through the sell-off. We walk through the full reconciliation, and which figure applies to your decision, on the three indices page.