Investors love businesses that have a reputation for minting cash.

And as far as tech companies go, the Software as a Service (SaaS) model is as good as it gets. It provides predictable, quantifiable, and fast-growing revenue for any company that can execute correctly – and everyone from venture capitalists (like Marc Andreessen) to asset managers (like Blackrock) love investing in companies with these traits.

Today’s infographic from TIMIA Capital explains why this is the case.

WHAT IS SAAS?

Unlike in years past when software was bought in a physical form at a store, much of today’s software runs right off the cloud.

This is made possible by ubiquitous broadband access and powerful computers – and SaaS allows users to consume software in a different way:

SaaS has immeasurable benefits over traditional software distribution models.

While the benefits of SaaS to the end user are plenty, it has even more interesting properties as an investment.

SAAS ECONOMICS

Instead of relying on one-time transactions or upfront fees, SaaS is built around smaller, subscription-based transactions that recur each month or year.

Recurring revenue makes SaaS extremely predictable, measurable, and built to scale.

Unlike some other types of startups, measuring performance in SaaS is heavily focused on growing important metrics like LTV (lifetime value) or MRR (monthly recurring revenue), while minimizing CAC (customer acquisition costs) and churn (the rate at which customers stop buying the product).