Dallas-based global SaaS company Thry Holdings Inc. recently reported on its second-quarter financial results, announcing SaaS revenue up 32% year-over-year (YoY) and raising SaaS revenue guidance as small- and medium-sized businesses (SMB) continue to adopt cloud technologies. Thryv’s flagship offering includes an end-to-end client experience platform that helps clients with the daily demands of running a business. With Thryv, they can “get the job, manage the job, and get credit,” all while improving their relationships with their customers. On the earnings call, Thryv’s CEO and President, Joe Walsh, provided a look into why the company is raising its SaaS outlook and where the focus is aimed for the remainder of the year.
Joe Walsh has remained confident in his beliefs that Thryv offers the solutions SMBs need to get through the pandemic and come out even stronger than before. He says SMBs are perfectly poised to take full advantage of the digital landscape and significantly grow their customer base.
“During Q2, we saw strong and continued growth in our SaaS business,” said Joe Walsh. “Small businesses are moving to the cloud, and we are providing them the tools they need to automate and modernize their businesses. As a result of our efforts, we see accelerated growth, and we are raising our SaaS revenue guidance for 2021.”
The highlights for Q2 of 2021 included the following trends:
- An increase of over 32% in Thryv SaaS revenue in the US ($41.4 million)
- Thryv Marketing Services revenue in the US growing to over $202 million in the US
- Thryv SaaS clients have grown to 45,000 in the US
- Consolidated gross profit of over $178 million
This growth has also been reflected directly in the Thryv software. “We see clients putting their faith in us as they take that leap to manage and grow their business using modern small business software,” Joe Walsh continued. “Small businesses need an end-to-end solution, not several different point solutions. Multiple solutions are expensive and are difficult to manage. Thryv provides the frictionless and simplified experience small businesses need.”
Thryv hosted a conference call Wednesday, August 11, 2021, at 8:30 a.m. EST to discuss the company’s second-quarter 2021 results. The conference call was offered live, and the recorded webcast has been published, including all slides.
In the presentation, Walsh noted, “Total SaaS revenues accelerated and grew by 32% year-over-year, ahead of our guidance. This demonstrates that we are executing the strategies we introduced last year.” In addition, he explained the company has been successful in achieving:
- Accelerated penetration with new customer acquisition channels as daily and weekly active users increased 27% from Q2 of 2020.
- Record client retention methods leading to a record low monthly churn of 2.1% (down from 3% during Q2 of 2020)
- Consistent and significant year-over-year growth with an 18% improvement in net dollar retention and increased average revenue per unit (ARPU) of $323 in 2021 (up from $232 in 2020)
Additionally, the company has focused on increasing engagement by offering resources that support customers with clear direction to better leverage the platform. As a result, Thryv was also added to the Russell 2000 index during the second quarter.
An aggressive position on selling cloud adoption adaptation in the SMB market to support recovery in the post-pandemic environment was crucial for Thryv’s SaaS performance. Not only did this offer a unique opportunity for Thryv growth in a largely untapped market, but it supported the clients who were looking for support in their digital migration efforts.
“To us, it appears clear that SMBs will move to the cloud,” Walsh says. “We feel Thryv is well-positioned to seize on this opportunity, and we’ve decided to invest in SaaS growth.”
This has required Thryv to improve its effective and efficient process for onboarding new clients. The goal for SMBs was to get their small teams up to speed as quickly as possible to reduce downtime and hassle. However, learning a new platform isn’t always easy, which could take away from the value of Thryv—so, Walsh says, Thryv has worked to reduce that friction.
The adjusted gross margin shows 1.1% growth for the first six months of 2021 compared to the first half of 2020. Thryv reported an adjusted gross profit of $430,342 for the first half of 2021. This has led to a raised revenue guidance of 23% from 21%, increasing from the prior expectations in the mid to upper teens.
Throughout the first half of 2021, Thryv worked to improve its market share of SMBs and grow the SaaS part of the company. However, the company has also pushed hard to pay off the debt thoughtfully and proactively. This has knocked its interest expenses to $18,012, down from over $19k in 2020.
About Joe Walsh
Before he led the charge at Thryv, Joe Walsh started his career by building a yellow pages business to compete with the traditional telephone company phone books. He successfully sold the company before joining Yellow Book. While there, he helped the company expand to over 200 markets throughout the country. He also helped facilitate over 77 acquisitions for Yellow Book, more than doubling the company’s revenue for any two years over the course of 15 years. After buying the Yellow Pages in the UK, he facilitated the shift to create the Yellow Group.
Walsh then started up a board advisory practice. He also was executive chairman, taking one SaaS business, Cambium, global, before moving to Thryv. As CEO at Thryv, he shifted the company’s focus to target SMBs with software to fill a market void for a digital future he saw as inevitable for businesses of all sizes.
About Thryv
The company owns the easy-to-use Thryv® end-to-end customer experience software built for small businesses that help over 40,000 SaaS clients with the daily demands of running a business. With Thryv, they can get the job, manage the job and get credit. In addition, Thryv’s award-winning platform provides modernized business functions, allowing SMBs to reach more customers, stay organized, get paid faster, and generate reviews. These include building a digital customer database, automated marketing through email and text, updating business listings across the internet, schedule online appointments, sending notifications and reminders, managing ratings and reviews, generating estimates and invoices, and processing payments.
Thryv supports franchise operators and multi-location business owners with Hub by Thryv™, a software console that enables business managers to oversee their operations using the Thryv software.
Thryv also connects local businesses to consumer services through our search, display, and social media management products, our print directories featuring The Real Yellow Pages® tagline, and our regional search portals, which operate under the DexKnows.com®, Superpages.com® and Yellowpages.com URLs and reach some 35 million monthly visitors. For more information about the company, visit thryv.com.
Thryv delivers business services to more than 400,000 SMBs globally that enable them to compete and win in today’s economy.
Thryv acquired Sensis, Australia’s leading digital, marketing and directory services provider, which helps Australians connect and engage through its leading platforms, digital consumer businesses (Yellow™, White Pages™, TrueLocal™, and Whereis™), search engine marketing and optimization services, website products, social, data and mapping solutions, and through its digital agency Found™. Sensis is also Australia’s largest print directory publisher, including the Yellow Pages™ and White Pages™. Headquartered in Melbourne, Sensis has a sales presence in all states and territories across Australia.
Learn more about Thryv on LinkedIn and Medium.
