Vertical SaaS Indemnification: An Independent Sponsor's Counsel
Securities and M&A counsel for independent sponsors drafting vertical SaaS transactions, from LOI to close to the capital markets that open up afterward.
Every vertical SaaS acquisition has its own gravity. Indemnification is the workstream where independent sponsor counsel earns the seat.
The typical vertical SaaS platform sits at $10M to $200M EV with EBITDA in the $2M to $30M (or run-rate ARR) range. The thesis runs on platform plus adjacent module acquisitions inside a single end-market. The ARR number on the CIM is rarely the ARR number on the closing balance sheet. Reconcile early.
How Indemnification actually gets structured.
Set general indemnity survival at 18 months, fundamental reps for the full statute of limitations.
Build a basket at 0.5 percent of EV, with a deductible structure, not a tipping basket.
Cap general indemnity at 10 percent of EV, with R&W insurance carrying the layer above.
Carve out fraud, tax, and intentional breach from any cap.
In vertical SaaS, layer in ARR bridge built before LOI signing as part of the Indemnification workstream.
Negotiating caps and baskets without first reading the disclosure schedules. The schedules dictate the real exposure.
"Indemnification only matters when the deal goes wrong. Draft it as if it will."Jason Powell · Indemnification
The deal is one thing. The capital that opens up after close is another.
Capital after close is where the IRR actually gets made. The right introductions at month nine through month thirty are where this practice works as hard as it does at the LOI.
Related deal pages.
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An LOI on the desk, a vertical SaaS target, and a Indemnification question worth a real conversation.
Twenty minutes of practitioner-grade input from a securities attorney whose first move is to read the deal, not the engagement letter.