Last week Meta SaaS, a SaaS management tool for small and medium businesses, announced it has raised $1.5 million in a seed funding round led by Mark Cuban of Shark Tank fame. Additional investors in this funding round include Barracuda Networks, data.world, Brett Hurt of Bazaarvoice, Capital Factor and Deep Space Ventures. Start-up Meta SaaS, which operates under a subscription model, helps companies identify and manage their SaaS subscriptions and licenses that are un- or underutilized.

Meta SaaS estimates that 31 percent of SaaS licenses are not being used or have been abandoned, costing companies unnecessary expense. Meta SaaS identifies SaaS vendors being used by a company but that aren’t managed by IT (phantom or shadow IT), creates a single source for managing SaaS renewals, optimizes licenses to reduce SaaS spending, and provides alerts of SaaS activity to decision makers. Meta SaaS also helps companies negotiate renewals.

Arlo Gilbert, CEO and fo-founder of Meta Saas, commented on the announcement.

“SaaS has solved numerous business problems, but it has also created a whole fresh set of pitfalls that can cost companies tens of millions of dollars annually,” said Gilbert in a press release. “The traditional method of tracking SaaS subscriptions and contracts via spreadsheet (if at all) isn’t going to cut it. In many cases, companies have absolutely no idea how many SaaS applications they’re paying for or using.”

“We’re generating and processing more data than ever due to the likes of artificial intelligence, machine vision and deep learning,” said Cuban who serves as an advisor to Meta SaaS. “That tidal wave of data has been inextricably tied to an explosion of SaaS vendors supporting the industries advancing these complex technologies. Meta SaaS has an incredible opportunity to navigate those costly vendor waters and save companies serious money.”

Michael Perone, founder, EVP and CMO of Barracuda Networks, also commented on the news.

“As a global, publicly-traded company with employees across multiple business units and geographies, we’ve witnessed the SaaS licensing boom firsthand. Meta SaaS helps solve a real problem that businesses face in managing numerous SaaS applications and contracts across multiple vendors. Meta SaaS simplifies that process with a transparency that helps companies save money and optimize their SaaS spend, and we look forward to working with them,” said Perone.

Meta SaaS started in 2016 and has signed with clients that include RetailMeNot, Barracuda, Civitas Learning, BenefitMall, Indeed and Spredfast. The company says it will use the seed funding to expedite SaaS management product development, scale up sales and marketing, and hire full-time software engineers beyond the company’s current five employees.

According to a Venture Beat article, Meta SaaS supports 224 SaaS vendors, and It estimates there are 6,200 or so vendors around the world. The top five apps businesses use most include Microsoft’s Office 365, Salesforce, Box, Amazon Web Services and Google G Suite. SaaS apps are most commonly used for file sharing, online accounting functions, payroll and human resources, online backup and storage, support and help desk, and online CRM.

Insider Take:

With the growing popularity of SaaS, there is a huge opportunity here for Meta SaaS to help businesses manage SaaS vendors and licenses and to do so on a grand scale with proven technology. It is impressive that they secured such funding so early in their company’s lifecycle, and even more impressive that the company has attracted the interest of billionaire Mark Cuban. Meta Saas has a great idea that, if executed well, has huge potential.