CROSS-CATEGORY: AI Infrastructure Startups Command $2B+ Valuations While App SaaS Multiples Compress to 3.4x–5.5x

SaaS Rise·high signal

Markets are pricing a sharp divergence: AI infrastructure plays like Parallel Web Systems ($2B valuation, 5 months between rounds) and Sierra ($15.8B) attract capital at premium multiples, while median public SaaS EV/Revenue multiples have compressed to 3.4x–5.5x from 18–20x peaks in 2021. Cloudflare, Twilio, and Snowflake — all AI-infrastructure-adjacent — are the only public SaaS companies accelerating customer growth, while application-layer peers decelerate.