No money for shelfware • TechCrunch

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Too many subscriptions? Many of us are feeling this way, and so are companies: In a downturn, cutting unnecessary expenses is more important than ever. Is this why SaaS management solutions have become ubiquitous? Let’s explore. — Anna

Fighting SaaS sprawl

“SaaS sprawl is a natural consequence of the SaaS revolution,” TechCrunch contributors Mark Settle and Tomer Y. Avni wrote in a guest column last November. Paying for and managing myriad SaaS subscriptions may be natural, but it is still a headache for companies, which likely explains why solutions helping them manage this pain point are quite popular among investors.

Just this week, British SaaS management company Cledara announced a $20 million Series A round of funding, TechCrunch’s Paul Sawers reported. This follows earlier pre-seed and seed rounds, bringing the startup’s total funding to date to some $24 million.

As weird as it feels to write this, $20 million is no longer a ton of money in our strange little world. But Cledara’s Series A round was closed in a downturn. And it’s the SaaS management category as a whole that VCs are betting on: Several Cledara competitors have also raised noteworthy amounts of venture capital over the last couple of years.