Meta SaaS

Meta SaaS, founded in 2016 in Austin, Texas, developed a software platform focused on Software Asset Management (SAM) specifically for the burgeoning Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) market. The company was established by co-founders Arlo Gilbert, who served as CEO, and Scott Hertel, the CTO. Gilbert, a serial entrepreneur with a history in telecom, search, and payments, along with Hertel, an experienced technologist in enterprise systems and big data, identified a critical issue for businesses: the uncontrolled proliferation and cost of unmanaged SaaS subscriptions.

The firm's core business was providing an automated SaaS license auditing solution that gave enterprises comprehensive insight into their SaaS spending and utilization. The platform addressed the growing problem of "Shadow IT," where employees subscribe to services without official oversight, by connecting directly with a company's expense, accounting, and payment systems to create a unified dashboard of all SaaS applications in use. This enabled IT, procurement, and finance departments to identify underutilized or abandoned licenses, optimize contract renewals, and improve security by managing employee access, particularly upon departure. The software was designed to track employee activity across numerous SaaS platforms—such as Salesforce, Box, and Workday—to reveal which licenses were being used effectively and where the company was overpaying.

Meta SaaS operated on a B2B model, serving emerging businesses across various sectors including technology, finance, and healthcare. The company secured $2.27 million in seed funding over two rounds, with notable investors including Mark Cuban, Capital Factory, and Barracuda Networks. This capital injection fueled the development and marketing of its platform. The company's trajectory culminated in its acquisition by Flexera, a global leader in software asset management, on May 2, 2018. The acquisition allowed Flexera to integrate Meta SaaS's capabilities, rebranding the product as Flexera SaaS Manager, and expand its ability to help customers manage and optimize spend across more than 32,000 SaaS applications.

Keywords: SaaS management, software asset management, license optimization, Shadow IT, spend management, contract management, procurement software, IT finance, cloud cost management, subscription management, Arlo Gilbert, Scott Hertel, Flexera, SaaS audit, utilization reporting, enterprise software, license compliance, technology expense management, cloud governance, vendor management