The benchmark grid · 12 industries × 5 stages × 3 ACV bands = 180 cells
Every published benchmark on this site carries a primary source. When no primary source exists for a specific cut, the page exists at the canonical URL but renders as an honest stub that points at adjacent cells and live public-company data - not a fabricated number.
Coverage today
150 of 180 cells currently carry a primary source citation. The remaining 30 render as honest stubs that link to adjacent cells and to live public-company CAC numbers from companies in that industry. We populate sourced cells incrementally as we verify primary citations from SaaS Capital, ChartMogul, Bessemer State of the Cloud, OpenView, and KeyBanc Capital Markets surveys.
Each industry page surfaces all 15 (5 stages × 3 ACV bands) cells for that industry, plus the live public-company CAC anchors from companies in our cohort.
SaaS B2B
Horizontal business-to-business SaaS: collaboration, productivity, CRM, marketing, ops.
SaaS B2C
Consumer SaaS subscriptions: streaming, fitness, creator tools, productivity.
Fintech
Payments, lending, neobanks, embedded finance, treasury, wealth management.
Healthtech
Clinical software, telehealth, EHR, payer-provider workflow, digital therapeutics.
Edtech
K-12, higher-ed, workforce learning, tutoring, learning management.
Ecommerce
DTC brands, marketplaces commerce, store platforms, post-purchase software.
Marketplaces
Two-sided marketplaces: services, gig, B2B procurement, freight, talent.
Devtools
Developer infrastructure: observability, CI/CD, databases, security, APIs.
Vertical SaaS
Industry-specific SaaS: construction, restaurants, life sciences, real estate, legal.
Security
Cybersecurity: endpoint, network, cloud, identity, GRC, threat intel.
AI-Native
Foundation-model wrappers, agentic products, vertical AI applications.
Services
Productised professional services with software leverage.
Every cell links to its dedicated page. Sourced cells show their median CAC inline; stub cells link to the closest published cuts. This is the entire 180-page surface.
| Stage | SMB | Mid-Market | Enterprise |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seed | 12m payback | 18m payback | 24m payback |
| Series A | 12m payback | 18m payback | 24m payback |
| Series B | 12m payback | 18m payback | 24m payback |
| Growth | 12m payback | 18m payback | 24m payback |
| Late Stage | 12m payback | 18m payback | 24m payback |
| Stage | SMB | Mid-Market | Enterprise |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seed | 13m payback | 19m payback | 27m payback |
| Series A | 13m payback | 19m payback | 27m payback |
| Series B | 13m payback | 19m payback | 27m payback |
| Growth | 13m payback | 19m payback | 27m payback |
| Late Stage | 13m payback | 19m payback | 27m payback |
| Stage | SMB | Mid-Market | Enterprise |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seed | 12m payback | 18m payback | 23m payback |
| Series A | 12m payback | 18m payback | 23m payback |
| Series B | 12m payback | 18m payback | 23m payback |
| Growth | 12m payback | 18m payback | 23m payback |
| Late Stage | 12m payback | 18m payback | 23m payback |
| Stage | SMB | Mid-Market | Enterprise |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seed | 9m payback | 11m payback | 14m payback |
| Series A | 9m payback | 11m payback | 14m payback |
| Series B | 9m payback | 11m payback | 14m payback |
| Growth | 9m payback | 11m payback | 14m payback |
| Late Stage | 9m payback | 11m payback | 14m payback |
| Stage | SMB | Mid-Market | Enterprise |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seed | 11m payback | 16m payback | 21m payback |
| Series A | 11m payback | 16m payback | 21m payback |
| Series B | 11m payback | 16m payback | 21m payback |
| Growth | 11m payback | 16m payback | 21m payback |
| Late Stage | 11m payback | 16m payback | 21m payback |
| Stage | SMB | Mid-Market | Enterprise |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seed | 9m payback | 14m payback | 18m payback |
| Series A | 9m payback | 14m payback | 18m payback |
| Series B | 9m payback | 14m payback | 18m payback |
| Growth | 9m payback | 14m payback | 18m payback |
| Late Stage | 9m payback | 14m payback | 18m payback |
| Stage | SMB | Mid-Market | Enterprise |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seed | 10m payback | 15m payback | 22m payback |
| Series A | 10m payback | 15m payback | 22m payback |
| Series B | 10m payback | 15m payback | 22m payback |
| Growth | 10m payback | 15m payback | 22m payback |
| Late Stage | 10m payback | 15m payback | 22m payback |
| Stage | SMB | Mid-Market | Enterprise |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seed | 11m payback | 16m payback | 20m payback |
| Series A | 11m payback | 16m payback | 20m payback |
| Series B | 11m payback | 16m payback | 20m payback |
| Growth | 11m payback | 16m payback | 20m payback |
| Late Stage | 11m payback | 16m payback | 20m payback |
| Stage | SMB | Mid-Market | Enterprise |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seed | 13m payback | 19m payback | 25m payback |
| Series A | 13m payback | 19m payback | 25m payback |
| Series B | 13m payback | 19m payback | 25m payback |
| Growth | 13m payback | 19m payback | 25m payback |
| Late Stage | 13m payback | 19m payback | 25m payback |
| Stage | SMB | Mid-Market | Enterprise |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seed | 14m payback | 20m payback | 30m payback |
| Series A | 14m payback | 20m payback | 30m payback |
| Series B | 14m payback | 20m payback | 30m payback |
| Growth | 14m payback | 20m payback | 30m payback |
| Late Stage | 14m payback | 20m payback | 30m payback |