Holy Shit
By now you may be tired of stories detailing the bad news in the market. Too bad! More are coming.
If the deluge of negative headlines feels like a pile-on, recall that in 2020 and 2021, TechCrunch obsessively covered the technology, startup and venture capital markets’ various excesses; to not cover the party’s comedown would be a gross oversight.
For a broader think on the slowdown, and what falling prices for stocks and crypto assets mean for startups and unicorns more generally, head here . From here on out, we’re only talking SaaS.
What’s the matter with software companies?
Software companies, viewed through the public subset of the larger cohort, had a simply amazing run after COVID settled onto the global stage. Public software companies were beneficiaries of two things: First, it quickly became clear that software would keep selling, even in a downturn. And, second, there was little to no growth in other places to invest in, so money piled into tech concerns.
This was the pandemic trade, in effect. And as it became a defining period for the value of tech stocks, its unraveling is having a similar effect, in reverse.
That reversal is not done. Not yet. Despite a massive selloff since November highs, tech stocks are proving today that there are new depths to plumb. For example :
Image Credits: Yahoo Finance
This particular ETF tracks the Bessemer Cloud Index , a list of public software companies that mostly deliver their business through the cloud. The basket of stocks peaked at $65.51 per share, meaning that as I write to you, it’s off 54% and change.