Technology

Hello and welcome back to our regular morning look at private companies, public markets and the gray space in between.

Today, something short. Continuing our loose collection of looks back of the past year, itworth remembering two related facts. First, that this time last year SaaS stocks were getting beat up. And, second, that in the ensuing year they&ve risen mightily.

If you are in a hurry, the gist of our point is that the recovery in value of SaaS stocks probably made a number of 2019 IPOs possible. And, given that SaaS shares have recovered well as a group, that the 2020 IPO season should be active as all heck, provided that things don&t change.

Letnot forget how slack the public markets were a year ago for a startup category vital to venture capital returns.

Last year

We&re depending on Bessemercloud index today, renamed the &BVP Nasdaq Emerging Cloud Index& when it was rebuilt in October. The Cloud Index is a collection of SaaS and cloud companies that are trackable as a unit, helping provide good data on the value of modern software and tooling concerns.

If the index rises, itgenerally good news for startups as it implies that investors are bidding up the value of SaaS companies as they grow; if the index falls, it implies that revenue multiples are contracting amongst the public comps of SaaS startups.*

Ultimately, startups want public companies that look like them (comps) to have sky-high revenue multiples (price/sales multiples, basically). That helps startups argue for a better valuation during their next round; or it helps them defend their current valuation as they grow.

Given that itChristmas Eve, I&m going to present you with a somewhat ugly chart. Today I can do no better. Please excuse the annotation fidelity as well:

Uber founder and former CEO Travis Kalanick is leaving the companyboard of directors, the ride-hailing company announced today. Kalanick will officially resign from the board as of December 31, to &focus on his new business and philanthropic endeavors,& according to a press release issued by Uber.

Kalanick, who was forced out as Uber CEO and eventually replaced by Dara Khosrowshahi through shareholder action, with support of the board, in 2017, has been in the process of selling off his considerable ownership stake in the company through successive sales of his shares. Just last week, Kalanick sold around $383 million in shares and reduced his overall stake to less than 10%, per an SEC filing.

UPDATE 7:35 AM PT: In fact, it looks like Kalanick has actually sold all his remaining stock, with the SEC filings to show up on the web likely after the Christmas holiday, per the FT.

The share sales started when Uberrestriction on the sale of stock for private investors and employees expired six months after the companyIPO. Kalanick at one time owned a total of 98 million shares in the company. Kalanick has since made a play in the on-demand food industry that his former company helped jump-start with CloudKitchens, a startup focused on picking up cheap properties and turning them into restaurant operations without a counter, seating or walk-in service designed exclusively to fill demand for courier-based restaurant delivery apps.

Meet the Canon Pixma TS3122, an all in one wireless multifunction inkjet printer on sale at Walmart now for a mere $19, down from $49. 

The price includes free pickup but no free delivery; but that still makes it by far the cheapest printer we’ve seen, especially as this includes a full set of cartridges (PG-243/CL-244). free photo paper and a p