In order to appear on the Forbes most successful list, first you have to make your business grow.
But money isn’t the solution it’s often made out to be. In fact, it might be the start of a whole new set of problems. Without a smart plan, resources run out fast, and so does morale. Spending money is not hard, the hard part is spending it efficiently. So how do other companies make it work?
That’s the question we asked ourselves here at Cledara, so we decided to take a look at how scale-ups handle spend right after being funded, especially when it comes to software management.
To create this report, we reviewed thousands of transactions from recently funded companies during the six months before and the six months after receiving capital (all numbers shown are company-wide and not per employee). And also surveyed founders and finance leaders of some of the top businesses in the B2B SaaS industry.
If you want to know about how companies similar to yours are handling their funding, especially when it comes to SaaS, then look no further. Check out the benchmarks, trends, and the tips and regrets from those who already made the mistakes, so you don’t have to.
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Here’s What We Found
Most companies had an increase in spend and number of subscriptions after being funded. From the outside, it looks like the growth most expect, but by inspecting closely, you realize there’s much more at stake.
Average SaaS spend increases 20% after funding
In the 6 months after raising funds, companies on average increase their software spend by 20%, add 2–3 more tools to their stack, and increase their number of subscriptions by 13%.
Teams add 2–4 new tools within 3 months post-raise
While companies of all sizes increase their number of subscriptions, the 51–100 employee range sees the biggest change, with a rise of +20.1%.
Over 50% of finance leaders regret some of those purchases
We asked respondents if they regretted subscribing to any new software after funding. More than half of respondents regret purchasing some tools post-funding. This trend appears regardless of funding amount.
Unexpected costs were the top challenge post-funding
For nearly 4 in 10 scale-ups, unexpected costs were their biggest challenge post-funding, driven by rapid hiring, new tools, expansion efforts, and lack of visibility.
The Spending Split: How Size and Stage Change Everything
Preview segmented insights without showing the full tables:
How companies with <50 vs. 100+ employees spend differently
Companies with less than 50 employees spend more aggressively and expand their tool stack faster post-funding, but often with less oversight. 100+ employee companies grow more strategically, with better spend discipline and control. Both grow, but the smaller the team, the higher the risk of regret.
How spending after a $3M raise compares to after a $20M raise
A $3M raise often triggers fast, high-risk growth, while a $20M one supports structured, high-value scaling. Smaller raises come with steeper SaaS spend growth (in percentage), while larger raises show discipline, and likely better tooling to manage it.
“Tool stack inflation” is real, but it’s not always bad
After a funding round, many startups see their number of software tools increase rapidly. That growth is often seen as a red flag: more tools mean more costs, more vendor sprawl, more confusion. But that’s not the whole picture. In many cases, a growing stack reflects growing needs, scaling teams, expanding markets, and maturing operations.
The key isn’t to avoid tool growth, but to manage it. When new tools are added with purpose (to streamline workflows, unlock insights, or support remote teams) that “inflation” can actually drive efficiency. Problems arise when tools are bought reactively, duplicated across teams, or never fully adopted. The best teams don’t stop the stack from growing, they ensure it grows with intent.
The Most Common Regrets, and What You Can Learn From Them
Most post-funding mistakes have less to do with money and more to do with mindset. We asked finance leaders what they wish they’d done differently, here are some of the highlights:
“Not asking for the opinion of other team members before purchasing apps.”
Fresh funds meant for a lot of teams the opportunity to finally get their hands on the shiny new toy, that tool they’ve been wanting to try out, but didn’t have the budget to do so.
Unfortunately, without a due process or a centralized management system, this led to overlapping where several teams hired tools that essentially did the same thing.
“We should have reduced hiring, do it slower, and in a more thoughtful manner.”
With payroll being the biggest expense for companies, it is not hard to see why some would regret hiring too much and too fast. Most of those surveyed said that when they hired too fast, they ended up onboarding the wrong person for the job or opened positions they didn’t need.
“Laying down solid operational foundations earlier would’ve probably saved a ton of headaches.”
For more insights on what these executives wished they had done differently, and the advice they would give to others, download the full report.
How to Stay in Control Post-Funding
Fresh capital means an opportunity to grow, but without visibility or a proper plan, those resources can dry up pretty fast. Among the most common issues we heard from founders and finance leaders, we found lack of visibility, poor planning, and little to no tracking.
When it came to SaaS, the most common complaints included paying for duplicated software, overspending, miscommunication between teams. A software-management system like Cledara can help you stay on top of your subscriptions by centralizing their payments, access, ownership, and more.
Download the report for our full insights on software spend management after funding, or visit go learn more about Cledara to see what it can do for your business.
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