FE International Hosts LTV Conf USA, Morgan Stanley Facilitates Procurement for Startups, Holiday Shopping Period Best in 6 Years (Plus a New SaaS Listing)

FE International is pleased to announce LTV Conf USA, coming April 3-4 2019 to New York City! [Click here](3c3a/ct0_0/1?sid=TV2%3AZgfxmFRvf) to view this message in a browser window. [] 3c3a/ct1_0/1?sid=TV2%3AZgfxmFRvf [] Hi ‎{NAME}‎,‎ FE International is pleased to announce [LTV Conf](3c3a/ct2_0/1?sid=TV2%3AZgfxmFRvf), coming April 3-4 2019 to New York City! North America's leading SaaS conference will be held at Convene West 46th St, and is an event not to miss. Up to 400 invited SaaS Founders, Executives and Investors from private and public companies will be in attendance making this the perfect place to learn and make new connections. The speaker line up is soon to be announced, but it is fair to say: it is the best line up yet! Tickets have yet to be launched publicly but can currently be found on the [website](3c3a/ct2_1/1?sid=TV2%3AZgfxmFRvf) for 75% off full price. Discounts are offered to bigger groups, so make sure to bring your team. In tech startup news, Morgan Stanley is [simplifying the technology onboarding process](3c3a/ct3_0/1?sid=TV2%3AZgfxmFRvf) in an effort to reduce the time required to purchase new technologies from startups. This comes in response to the widespread sentiment by small companies that working with large banks entails too complex of a procurement process. Morgan Stanley will seek to shorten the onboarding process "by streamlining documentation and broadening the opportunities for executives to evaluate new tech products," according to Head of Technology Business Development and Innovation Office Shawn Melamed. The retail world saw holiday shopping rise [5.1% this year](3c3a/ct4_0/1?sid=TV2%3AZgfxmFRvf) for the strongest holiday season growth in six years, as reported by Mastercard. Online shopping grew 19.1% YoY as part of this surge, with major retailers reporting a continued positive outlook. Amazon, which was capturing 81% of internet sales during the season stated this was a "record-breaking" shopping season with more people than ever before placing orders on the platform, ultimately leading to AMZN stock closing up 9.5% on Wednesday. Online sales for department stores increased 10.2% over 2017's holiday shopping season indicating that investment into e-commerce presence has helped temper the 2% decrease in in-store spending. New in SaaS business listings this week we have a [$66K B2B birth tracking software](3c3a/ct5_0/1?sid=TV2%3AZgfxmFRvf), with years of operational history, hundreds of thousands of births logged to date, extensive software functionality allowing for strong revenues and a loyal customer base, a sticky product with a high lifetime value of c.$300, low customer churn of 3.9% in the LTM and simple operations with a highly scalable cost structure and low owner involvement. If you are interested in this business, please follow the link to request a prospectus. In events news, Founder Thomas Smale's conference schedule for the new year is already set for a busy start. Thomas' conference tour will kick off with [Accelerate Now Summit](3c3a/ct6_0/1?sid=TV2%3AZgfxmFRvf) on January 4 in San Diego, where he will be speaking about How to Increase the Value of Your Business. He is then quickly off to [Affiliate Summit West](3c3a/ct7_0/1?sid=TV2%3AZgfxmFRvf) on January 6-8 where he is looking forward to meeting up with industry experts and valued clients! If you are planning on attending either or will be in the area, reply to this email to set up a meeting! Continue reading below for more on Morgan Stanley's shortened procurement process for small tech companies and holiday shopping results. 3c3a/ct8_0/1?sid=TV2%3AZgfxmFRvf Listings New [SaaS - B2B Birth Tracking Software - $1.8K MRR](3c3a/ct9_0/1?sid=TV2%3AZgfxmFRvf) - Years of operational history, with hundreds of thousands of births logged to date - Extensive software functionality, allowing for strong revenues and a loyal customer base - Sticky product with a high lifetime value of c.$300 and low customer churn of 3.9% in the LTM - Simple operations with a highly scalable cost structure and low owner involvement Yearly net profit: $17,200 Asking price: $66,000 Sold [SaaS - Employment and Resume Platform - $1.1K MRR](3c3a/ct10_0/1?sid=TV2%3AZgfxmFRvf) In The News... Morgan Stanley Facilitates Tech Startup Collaboration Morgan Stanley is simplifying the process for acquiring [new technologies](3c3a/ct3_1/1?sid=TV2%3AZgfxmFRvf) from tech startups in response to complaints that working with large banks is a costly, cumbersome process. In order to make working with small companies easier, Morgan Stanley is minimizing documentation required for onboarding and broadening the opportunities for executives to evaluate new tech products, according to Shawn Melamed, Morgan Stanley’s head of technology business development and innovation office. Examples of such efforts include the bank shortening what was once a 20-page vendor agreement down to just one page, bringing the time required to work together down from three months to, in some cases, one week. As part of onboarding improvements, they have also created a portal for employees to test new technologies before bringing them on. Melamed further stated, “We have looked at how to improve over-complicated processes. The benefit for us and them is (saving) time and money.” As fintech startups become an increasingly prevalent opportunity, large banks are seeking to work with them to launch new digital services to remain on top of technological change and stay ahead of competition by new entrants. The updated processes should help small companies more efficiently sell to large insitutions, thereby increasing the viable market for fintech startups. US Holiday Spending Hits Six-Year High A [report by MasterCard](3c3a/ct4_1/1?sid=TV2%3AZgfxmFRvf) has shown that holiday sales from this November 1 through Christmas Eve grew by more than 5% YoY. Sales revenue reached $850 billion in the shopping period for both in-store and online sales, exceeding trade group estimates of the 4.3-4.8% growth rate range. Steve Sadove, senior adviser for Mastercard, told Reuters in a statement, "From shopping aisles to online carts, consumer confidence translated into holiday cheer for retail." Online sales in particular grew quite significantly YoY, increasing by more than 19%. Amazon was once again one of the dominant players in the season, reporting that it was a "record-breaking" holiday shopping season for the e-commerce giant, during which they shipped around one billion Prime items just in the US. By December 19, e-commerce spending had already risen 18.3% YoY from the November 1 holiday shopping period. On the specifics of e-commerce growth, Sadove commented, “Online shopping is experiencing a surge boosted by strong growth in Apparel, Department Store, and Jewelry e-commerce sales. A mix of early deals and cold weather helped drive shoppers online. In addition, we’re seeing more consumers finding out about brands and listening to shopping advice from social networks, communities and friends – making it even easier to buy from any connected device.” For more updates throughout the week on the financial world of online business M&A, follow our team on [Facebook](3c3a/ct11_0/1?sid=TV2%3AZgfxmFRvf), [LinkedIn](3c3a/ct12_0/1?sid=TV2%3AZgfxmFRvf), [Twitter](3c3a/ct13_0/1?sid=TV2%3AZgfxmFRvf) and [Instagram](3c3a/ct14_0/1?sid=TV2%3AZgfxmFRvf). Until Next Week, The FE International Team [] [] [Facebook](3c3a/ct15_0/1?sid=TV2%3AZgfxmFRvf) [Twitter](3c3a/ct16_0/1?sid=TV2%3AZgfxmFRvf) [LinkedIn](3c3a/ct17_0/1?sid=TV2%3AZgfxmFRvf) [Forward to Friend](3c3a/ct18_0/1?sid=TV2%3AZgfxmFRvf) [] Copyright © 2010 FE International, Inc. 750 Lexington Ave., Ste. 107 Floor 6, New York, NY 10022-1200, United States If you do not wish to receive future email, please [click here](3c3a/l-006f/zout?sid=TV2%3AZgfxmFRvf).