---
title: "The Fastest Growing Software Sectors in 2024"
description: "Discover which software sectors lead growth in 2024: Security (29%) and Data (23%) outpace Fintech \u0026 SaaS, commanding 2x higher revenue multiples."
categories: ["exits","data analysis","financials"]
keywords: ["Theory Ventures","Tomasz Tunguz","software growth","security software","data-as-a-service","Fintech growth","SaaS market","enterprise value multiples","software market trends"]
ai_summary: "In 2024, security and data sectors lead software growth, significantly outperforming Fintech and SaaS in revenue multiples."
date: 2024-01-29
lastmod: 2026-07-20
canonical_url: https://www.tomtunguz.com/fastest-growing-software-category-2024/
author: "Tomasz Tunguz"
---

The fastest growing software category in the public markets is security. Data follows. 

![image](https://res.cloudinary.com/dzawgnnlr/image/upload/o3e53ayez0rbrptcbgg6.png)

Security companies as a group average 29% expected revenue growth in 2024, compared to 23% for Data (or DaaS which stands for data-as-a-service). Fintech & SaaS (horizontal) average ten percentage points fewer expected growth.

![image](https://res.cloudinary.com/dzawgnnlr/image/upload/cotgc4zomxlkpbus7xgh.png)

Anticipation of this growth propels multiples. Security & data top the charts at on average 10x enterprise-value-to-forward-revenue, compared to 5x for the others.

These two software categories lead [buyers' priorities](https://tomtunguz.com/vendr-q3-report/) & are expected to grow at [twice the pace of the overall software market](https://tomtunguz.com/software-spending-2023/).


![image](https://res.cloudinary.com/dzawgnnlr/image/upload/m8gtsd73didw3oetmcna.png)


Reviewing the data deeper, CrowdStrike, Palo Alto, SentinelOne, & ZScaler have seen significant multiple improvement. Only Okta lags a bit which is likely due to some of their [internal security challenges](https://www.reuters.com/technology/cybersecurity/okta-says-hackers-stole-data-all-customer-support-users-cyber-breach-2023-11-29/).

For now, software buyers view security & data products as highest priority. As a result, these businesses project higher growth rates & fetch more attractive valuations in early 2024. 

This dynamic will very likely cascade into the private markets as well with both acquisitions and financings in these categories priced at a premium.