Software delivery, by the numbers
01
- software products shipped
- 100+
02
- average time to first production release
- 12 weeks
03
- rated by clients on Clutch
- 4.9/5
04
- years delivering software for established businesses
- 9+
RaftLabs is an AI-first tech studio that builds SaaS products for startups and growth-stage companies. Since 2020, we've shipped 100+ products including B2B SaaS platforms, marketplace apps, and AI-native tools for clients including Aldi, Nike, and Vodafone. We deliver SaaS products in 10–16 weeks at a fixed cost with full source code ownership and no vendor lock-in. RaftLabs is a tech studio, not an agency. One team owns your product from architecture through launch, no handoffs, no relay race between four vendors.
The architecture decisions you make when building your MVP constrain you at every subsequent stage. Shared-schema multi-tenancy that works at 50 customers breaks at 5,000. Subscription billing bolted on after launch is harder to change than if it was designed in. Role-based access retrofitted after enterprise deals require it is a rebuild.
SaaS development done right means making the right architectural decisions at the start, not paying for them at Series B.
Key Insight
Two SaaS platforms we've built since 2020 were acquired after launch: Gula (acquired by Runchise) and a food logistics SaaS (acquired by Gojek). In both cases, the multi-tenant architecture we shipped held up under the acquiring company's scale without a rebuild.
Gula is one example. We built the multi-platform food order management SaaS, including multi-tenant data isolation and Stripe billing, in 16 weeks. It was acquired by Runchise shortly after launch. Read the full case study.
"RaftLabs elevated my ideas and brought them to life when everything seemed impossible." — Grady Lakshmono, CoFounder, Moka (acquired by Gojek) & Gula (acquired by Runchise)
Capabilities
What we build
Multi-tenant SaaS platforms
SaaS products where one codebase serves many customers with complete data isolation. The tenancy model is selected based on your target buyer. Row-level security (PostgreSQL RLS with tenant_id column on every table, JWT claim set as app.tenant_id session variable, all queries filtered automatically) works for B2C or high-volume SMB SaaS. Schema-per-tenant (each customer gets a dedicated PostgreSQL schema, Flyway multi-schema migrations per tenant, upper ceiling ~500 tenants before connection pool constraints appear) suits B2B products targeting growth-stage companies. Database-per-tenant (separate RDS instance per customer provisioned via Terraform, connection routing by tenant subdomain or custom domain at the API gateway) is for regulated industry buyers in healthcare and financial services who require physical data isolation.
Tenant provisioning automation: a new customer completes signup and a Temporal.io workflow or AWS Step Functions state machine provisions their resources, schema creation, seed data, default roles, billing subscription, welcome email, all within 60 seconds end-to-end. Idempotent provisioning steps ensure a failed step can be retried without creating duplicate resources. Cross-tenant isolation tested at the API layer: automated security test suite makes authenticated requests as Tenant A and verifies that Tenant B's resources return 403/404, not 200, enforcing isolation as a continuous regression test rather than a one-time design decision.
Subscription and billing infrastructure
Stripe Billing integration covering recurring subscriptions (monthly/annual), trial management (free trial with or without credit card requirement), plan upgrades and downgrades with proration calculated by Stripe, usage-based metering via Stripe Billing Meters API (report usage events, Stripe aggregates and bills at period end), and invoice generation with custom line items for one-time charges. Stripe webhook events consumed and idempotently processed: invoice.payment_succeeded (activate/extend subscription), invoice.payment_failed (dunning sequence initiation), customer.subscription.deleted (account downgrade/deactivation), customer.subscription.updated (plan change acknowledgement). Dunning sequence: Day 1 automated email with Stripe-hosted payment update link, Day 3 in-app banner, Day 7 account suspension warning, Day 14 account suspended with data retention guarantee.
Feature flags by plan tier: LaunchDarkly or Unleash (self-hosted) gates features at the application layer with the customer's current plan stored as a context attribute. When a feature is requested by a customer on the wrong tier, the API returns HTTP 402 with a structured body ({ "upgrade_required": true, "feature": "advanced_analytics", "current_plan": "starter", "required_plan": "growth" }) that the frontend uses to render an upgrade prompt. This allows plan-gating any feature without a code deployment, add a feature flag to the plan configuration and the feature gate propagates immediately. For Stripe alternatives: Lago (open-source billing engine, self-hosted, supports complex usage-based pricing models that Stripe Billing doesn't natively handle) available as an option where Stripe's pricing model flexibility is insufficient.
B2B SaaS features
Team and workspace management, role-based access control (admin, member, billing, viewer), SSO via SAML or OAuth, audit logs, API key management, and webhook delivery for product events. The feature set enterprise buyers check before procurement approval, built in from the start, not added when the first enterprise deal requires them.
SaaS API and integration layer
Public API for third-party integrations, webhook delivery for product events, Zapier and Make connector support, and native integrations with the tools your customers already use (Slack, Salesforce, HubSpot, and others). The integration surface that makes your product a platform, not a silo.
Admin and operations tooling
Internal admin dashboard for managing tenants, monitoring usage, managing billing overrides, and supporting customers without needing database access. Usage analytics, churn signals, and product usage data surfaced to your customer success team. The operational tooling that lets your team run the product without relying on engineers for every support task.
SaaS infrastructure and DevOps
Production infrastructure on AWS, Vercel, or GCP, CI/CD pipeline, staging environments, database backups, monitoring and alerting, and auto-scaling configuration. Infrastructure that supports zero-downtime deployments and handles traffic spikes without emergency engineering involvement. Deployed to your cloud account, managed by you after handoff.
100+ products shipped since 2020. We know what breaks SaaS products at scale.
Fixed cost. 10–16 week delivery. Full source code ownership. No dependency on us to run your product.
Process
How we build SaaS products
Architecture first
Before writing code, we design the data model, tenancy model, and API structure. The architecture review catches decisions that are cheap to change now and expensive to change later, schema design, tenancy approach, billing model integration, and permission model. We document the architecture before development starts and get your sign-off.
Fixed cost on defined scope
We scope the product before pricing it. Discovery session to understand the user flows, a wireframe to validate the scope, and a defined feature list before the fixed cost is set. If the scope exceeds your budget, we cut to the essential core and build the rest in a subsequent phase. No hourly billing, no surprises at invoice time.
Working software at every milestone
We build in two-week sprints with deployed builds at the end of each. You see working software every two weeks, not a completed product at the end of 16 weeks. If something isn't right, we catch it at sprint review when changes cost hours, not at launch when they cost weeks.
Built for your engineering team to take over
We write code as if we're handing it to a different engineering team, because we usually are. Standard frameworks, documented APIs, a clean codebase, and infrastructure-as-code. Your future engineers will recognise how it's built and be able to extend it without reverse-engineering our decisions.
SaaS architecture decisions made right the first time
Multi-tenancy, subscription billing, and enterprise features designed in from day one. Fixed cost.
How we work
From scope to shipped
Every project follows the same four phases. Scope is locked and price is fixed before development starts.
- Week 1
01Discovery and scope
We map the problem, the user, and the workflow. You leave week 1 with a written scope document, a defined feature list, and a fixed-price quote. No development starts without your sign-off.
- Weeks 2-3
02Architecture and design
We design the data model, tenancy model, and API structure before writing code. Wireframes validate the UX. Architecture decisions made here cost a fraction of changes made in week 8.
- Weeks 4-12
03Build, integrate, and QA
Working software deployed to staging at the end of sprint one. Bi-weekly demos with milestone sign-off before the next payment. QA runs in parallel with every sprint, not as a phase at the end.
- Weeks 12+
04Launch and handoff
Production deployment with monitoring activated on launch day. 8 weeks of post-launch support included. Full source code, infrastructure definitions, and documentation transferred to you at project end.
Why us
Why SaaS founders choose RaftLabs
- 01
Senior engineers build what they scope
The engineers who assess your product also build it. No bait-and-switch, no offshore handoff after the contract is signed. The team you meet in week 1 ships in week 12.
- 02
Fixed price before development starts
We scope the product, calculate the cost, and lock it in writing before any development starts. A scope change is a change request: priced, agreed, or dropped. It never absorbs into the project and appears on the final invoice.
- 03
9 years and 100+ products shipped
Clients include Vodafone, T-Mobile, Aldi, Nike, Cisco, and Lockheed Martin. Track record across B2B SaaS, marketplace, AI-native platforms, and fintech. We have shipped multi-tenant products for US, UK, and Australian buyers.
- 04
Compliance built in from the start
GDPR, HIPAA, SOC 2 — compliance requirements are scoped in week 1, not retrofitted before launch. We have shipped HIPAA-compliant systems for US healthcare clients and GDPR-compliant products for European markets.