Thryv, the erstwhile (and still) directory publisher that is now a leading player in SMB SaaS, announced today that for the full year 2023, it grew SaaS revenue by 21.9 percent to $263.7 million.
Thryv is a legacy directory publisher (which still publishes print books) that has made a successful pivot into SaaS. As of year-end 2023, SaaS revenue accounts for 28.8 percent of total company revenues.
Revenue Shift
Thryv’s total revenues for the year came in at $917.0 million, which represents a 24 percent year-over-year decrease. This is largely due to the decline in Thryv’s marketing services business, which fell by 33.8 percent to $653.2 million for the full year. The pace of decline eased a bit in Q4, falling by 26 percent to 162.2 million.
Even though Thryv’s legacy revenue remains highly profitable, it is in steep decline, to no one’s surprise. Investors assign higher multiples to SaaS companies than to legacy media businesses. So Thryv has ample incentive to focus on its SaaS business. It is a better story generally. What company wouldn’t rather talk about its newer, fast-growing SaaS business vs. its declining legacy business? As noted, the more Thryv is seen as a SaaS stock, the better for Thryv’s shareholders.
Thryv has made this pivot a central theme of its communications to investors and to the public.
In 2022, Thryv projected it would hit $1 billion in SaaS revenue by 2027. This leaves Thryv with about three years to nearly quadruple its SaaS revenue.
And today Thryv issued a separate press release with the headline, “Thryv Sees Acceleration in Marketing Services Upgrades to SaaS Platform”.
In the latter announcement, which offers few specifics, Thryv did disclose that SaaS will account for nearly 40% of revenues by the end of this year. Compare this to the 28.8% it came in at for FY 2023.
Supporting this projection is that Thryv’s SaaS revenue growth did accelerate through 2023. In Q4 2023, SaaS revenues grew by 25 percent to $74 million. That is higher than the 21.9 percent SaaS growth rate for the full year.
“Our fast-growing software business, (+25% in the most recent period) will represent over 50% of our revenue within two years,” Thryv CEO and Chairman Joe Walsh told Localogy Insider. “After nine years of focused work, we now lead in one the fastest growing sectors in the global economy. The decade of SMB SAAS is truly upon us.”
