There was a successful SaaS IPO two weeks ago called Netskope. We read through their prospectus. Learnings about their business and how they do SaaS are below.
R&D is a key focus. “I have always believed in the phrase ‘innovate or die’; it’s a core principle at Netskope. In the relentless battle against cybercriminals and navigating the constantly changing digital landscape, remaining stagnant and failing to evolve simply isn’t an option. That’s why we pour unwavering commitment into research and development, relentlessly pushing the boundaries of what’s possible. We’re not content with incremental improvements; we’re driven by a burning desire to disrupt, to redefine, to create breakthroughs that will fundamentally change the game.”
The CEO is the co-founder. “We built Netskope One, our unified, cloud-native platform from the ground up to solve the challenge of securing and accelerating the digital interactions of enterprises in this new era. Organizations rely on our Netskope One platform to provide profound contextual intelligence into their data and digital interactions”
Really nice ARR growth, but unprofitable. “Our Annual Recurring Revenue (“ARR”)8 increased 33% year-over-year to $707 million as of July 31, 2025, compared to $531 million as of July 31, 2024. Net loss improved to $170 million for the six months ended July 31, 2025, compared to $207 million for six months ended July 31, 2024.”
Excellent retention metrics. “We have achieved strong retention metrics, as evidenced by our dollar-based net retention rate (“NRR”)9, which increased to 118% as of July 31, 2025, compared to 113% as of July 31, 2024. In addition, our dollar-based gross retention rate (“GRR”)10 increased to 96% as of July 31, 2025, compared to 95% as of July 31, 2024.”
Pricing. “We generate substantially all of our revenue from the sale of cloud subscriptions to our Netskope One platform. We generally price our subscriptions based on the scale of the customer’s organization and products deployed. A substantial majority of our customers purchase subscriptions with a contract term of one to three years.”
Drive the upsell with product. “As our customers realize tangible value from the products that they deploy, they often purchase more subscriptions, increase the number of users in more departments and geographies, and extend the number of applications covered. As part of our Netskope One platform, customers have the option to purchase our products in bundles, or standalone in various configurations. As of July 31, 2025, the percent of customers with subscriptions for three or more products, four or more products, and five or more products was 72%, 51%, and 35%, respectively, which represents an increase from 52%, 29%, and 18%, respectively, as of January 31, 2022.”
Product is thoroughly Enterprise. “As of July 31, 2025, we had 4,317 customers, which represented a 21% year-over-year increase from 3,571 customers as of July 31, 2024. As of July 31, 2025, more than 30% of the Fortune 100, and approximately 18% of Forbes Global 2000 were our customers. This demonstrates our ability to serve the world’s leading companies and our significant opportunity to grow in the markets we serve.”
Plenty of $1mm+ contracts. “We continue to increase the number of customers who have entered into substantial subscriptions with us. As of July 31, 2025, we had 111 customers with ARR over $1 million, representing 37% of our total ARR. This reflects a 32% year-over-year increase from 84 customers who made up 34% of our total ARR as of July 31, 2024.”
The company sells internationally. “expand. For the six months ended July 31, 2025, revenue contributed from the Americas, EMEA, and APJ comprised 56%, 25%, and 19% of our total revenue, respectively.”
Netskope’s financials are below. As you can see the business isn’t profitable, but the trend is in the right direction and as you read above, the growth and retention are excellent. Shoot for the same metrics and trends (no need to be profitable), and you’ll be in good company.
Thank you for your readership. See more blogs and SaaS data at blossomstreetventures.com. Email the author at sammy@blossomstreetventures.com.