D.A. Davidson & Co. today released its fifth annual The Herd report featuring the top 100 privately-held software companies globally, largely falling within D.A. Davidson’s core areas of software expertise: application and vertical software and infrastructure and security software. These private companies have shown a strong track record of innovation and were selected based on scale, growth, market awareness, capitalization, strategic positioning, and other proprietary analytics generated by D.A. Davidson.

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D.A. Davidson & Co. today released its fifth annual The Herd report featuring the top 100 privately-held software companies globally, largely falling within D.A. Davidson’s core areas of software expertise: application and vertical software and infrastructure and security software. (Photo: Business Wire)

“The Herd 2024 demonstrates our continued commitment to help private company clients achieve their strategic and financial goals,” said Greg Thomas, Managing Director and Co-Head of the Technology Investment Banking Group at D.A. Davidson. “In a market environment where resilience is critical, we saw 70 constituents return to The Herd from last year’s cohort, that’s a really impressive accomplishment.”

“Between 2023 and 2024, we largely saw growth-stage companies navigate a challenging environment better than expected. A combination of private capital or private credit, more capital-efficient growth, and slightly less stringent investor requirements than anticipated, allowed many of the top 100 private companies featured in The Herd 2024 to perform well against ‘the new thresholds,’” said Jonathan Lejuez, Managing Director in D.A. Davidson’s Technology Investment Banking Group.

Key findings from 2024 include:

• Median statistics of The Herd 2024 include: 12 years since founding, 900 current employees and latest reported valuation of $3.5 billion
• The Herd 2024 have raised in aggregate nearly $65 billion in proceeds; more than two-thirds of companies have reached Series D funding or later
• Time between funding rounds has typically been 14 to 18 months for The Herd 2024
• Median size of raise by funding round for The Herd 2024 has been $110M (Series D), $148M (Series E), $200M (Series F)
• Median implied valuation step-up by funding round for The Herd 2024 has been 2.6x (Series D), 1.3x (Series E), 1.9x (Series F)
• While there were many active lead investors for The Herd 2024, Accel and Andreessen Horowitz were the two most active lead investors across all rounds of funding, with each having led 22 different funding rounds from Series A through Series F

“There has been a tremendous amount of capital available in the private markets for these best-of-breed software companies. It has enabled emerging founders, leadership teams and financial sponsors to make significant advancements within technology that will drive secular growth for many years to come,” said Gary Morabito, Managing Director at D.A. Davidson. “At the same time, we’re seeing pent up demand from institutional investors and a significant desire to allocate capital into high-quality, high-growth and efficient companies within the public markets. We would expect the 2024 Herd recipients to be at the forefront of going public as the IPO window continues to open in 2025 and beyond.”

D.A. Davidson's Technology Investment Banking Group brings a unique perspective based on decades of experience, deep industry knowledge and a proven track record of superior execution. Our senior professionals are focused on developing long-term relationships and delivering lasting value to our clients while helping them navigate and capitalize on the industry’s rapidly evolving landscape. Since 2020, the Technology team has executed over 125 advisory and capital raising transactions across our core vertical focus areas of application software, communications, financial technology, hardware, infrastructure software, internet and digital media, vertical software, and tech-enabled services.

About D.A. Davidson Companies

D.A. Davidson Companies is an employee-owned financial services firm offering a range of financial services and advice to individuals, corporations, institutions, and municipalities nationwide. Founded in 1935 with corporate headquarters in Great Falls, Montana, and regional headquarters in Denver, Los Angeles, New York, Omaha and Seattle, the company has approximately 1,600 employees and offices in 30 states.

Subsidiaries include: D.A. Davidson & Co., a full-service investment firm providing wealth management, investment banking, equity and fixed income capital markets services, and advice; Davidson Investment Advisors, a professional asset management firm; and D.A. Davidson Trust Company, a trust and wealth management company.

For more information, visit dadavidson.com.

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