Zuora Grabs More Than Half a Billion Pounds in Six Months on Back of Booming European Subscription Economy

LONDON--(Marketwire - Oct 4, 2012) -

• Zuora has doubled its customer base, expanding across 12 European countries as the Subscription Economy accelerates.
  
  
• Its European operation has secured more than half a billion pounds in contracted revenue¹ in just six months.
  
  
• More companies, from startups to enterprises, are adopting subscription based models as the new cloud, mobile and social trends drive innovation. This seismic shift has seen Zuora's European business achieve year on year growth of 68 per cent following its expansion last year.
  
  
• Customers and businesses prefer to subscribe to services rather than buying products. Companies that demonstrate this trend include LoveFilm, salesforce.com, Box and Zipcar.
  
  
• Many progressive companies are now looking to Zuora for an alternative to clunky enterprise resourcing planning (ERP) systems which were designed for manufacturing-based businesses.
  
  
• The Subscription Economy is expanding in Europe. New consumer research² shows a quarter of consumers save £200 a year by buying goods and services via a subscription. And 92 per cent expect to subscribe to more services next year.
  
  
• Over the past 12 months, Zuora customers such as News International, Sage, Firehost, Evenbase and Price & Quote have all capitalised on the growing trend of consumers and enterprises subscribing to services versus purchasing products, turning to Zuora to help them monetise their subscribers.

Europe embraces the Subscription Economy

• Consumers are helping to drive the move to the Subscription Economy. According to a poll, 50 per cent of consumers are already using subscription services daily (excluding mobile / broadband / TV subscriptions). Over a half subscribe to goods and services because they find it more convenient.
  
  
• Enterprise businesses are experiencing rapid growth with new subscription models. "Our business has grown by 200 per cent over the last year, and Zuora's PaaS has allowed us to scale our billing operations smoothly even at that rate of growth," said Ben McCormack, Director of Operations EMEA at FireHost.

Zuora's growth in Europe accelerating, as Subscription Economy takes off

• Zuora's European business now accounts for a quarter of overall global contracted subscription revenue. Subscription business models have seen rapid acceptance as companies look for sustainable business growth in the digital era. This requires a new breed of systems since existing ERP technologies are focused on legacy manufacturing models. This is where Zuora comes in.
  
  
• The company enables any company to change the way they price & package, and serve their customers. Helping organisations to launch and scale their subscription businesses; manage complex subscription processes efficiently as well as measure and monitor the right metrics to optimise their subscription business.
  
  
• The recently launched Z-Business, the first Relationship Business Management (RBM) solution is a new class of software focused on building, managing and optimising the revenue relationships that are the lifeblood of subscription businesses. RBM manages the business operations of customer-centric subscription companies as ERP has done for manufacturing companies.
  
  
• "In the last twelve months, the European market has seen unprecedented growth," said Tien Tzuo, CEO, Zuora. "As businesses shift to the Subscription Economy, they are realising traditional ERP systems built for one-time commerce just won't cut it in the digital era. I am always amazed to hear about the various subscription businesses that are popping up driven wholly by demand from enterprises and end consumers alike."

Commentary

• "Since switching to Zuora, we have seamlessly expanded into Europe and we can now invoice in numerous currencies, from different operational entities around the world," said Ben McCormack, Director of Operations EMEA at FireHost. "This could not have been done without automating our processes for recurring, pre-paid, and utility-based billing. This has enabled us to focus our attention and resources on growing new business and expanding into new service areas."
  
  
• "Over the past year we've watched Zuora go from strength to strength at a staggering pace," said Jan Hammer, partner at Index Ventures. "Zuora sits at the very heart of the Subscription Economy and offers an innovative product which helps companies in the consumer and business world transform their business model from one-time transactions to recurring revenue. We are excited to be part of this shift and look forward to helping Zuora to become the next great global software company."

About Zuora, Inc.
Zuora is the global leader in Relationship Business Management solutions. Zuora delivers the subscription billing, commerce and finance capabilities that have become the industry standard to help companies transition to the Subscription Economy. Enterprises and emerging companies alike use Zuora's multi-tenant cloud solution to enable growth strategies, to streamline key processes and to provide visibility into the metrics that matter most in the Subscription Economy. Zuora services innovative customers like Informatica, Tata Communications, Box.net, DocuSign, GigaOM, Xplornet, Ustream and Reed Business Information. To learn more about Zuora, please visit www.zuora.com.

(1) Total Contracted Revenue is the sum of all invoice volume (Included and Committed) written into Zuora's customer contracts

(2) Independent online poll of 100 consumers