Receipt Bank raises $US50 million to accelerate innovation

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A huge congrats is in order for our app partner, Receipt Bank. In one of the biggest deals in UK fintech since Brexit, it’s just raised $US50 million in a Series B funding round, led by Insight Venture Partners.

Receipt Bank is one of the most popular integrations in our app marketplace, and for good reason. As the first software company to automatically process information from uploaded images of receipts and invoices, it has transformed accounts payable and expenses for thousands of businesses. Launching in 2010, Receipt Bank now has offices on three continents and an annual growth of over 100%. Over 5,000 accounting and bookkeeping firms and 100,000 of their small business clients use Receipt Bank.

Adding fuel to the innovation fire

According to Receipt Bank’s C0-founder and Director, Michael Wood, this injection of funds will propel Receipt Bank’s innovation and growth even further.

“We’re working towards a vision of what bookkeeping will look like in 2025. We already have one of the largest teams in the world focusing on machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) for the accounting industry. This investment will allow us to keep innovating, so we can equip accountants and bookkeepers with the software they need to succeed.

“Xero and Receipt Bank have both been at the forefront of developing automation technologies for small business. Companies will soon have access to their real-time financial data, and this is extremely valuable for them. As bookkeeping evolves, we’ll see it become less about compliance, and more about harnessing the value of this real-time financial data to add value in new ways,” Michael said.

A Recipe for Rocketship Growth

So what has helped Receipt Bank become the fast-growth innovation engine it is today? Michael says there have been three key factors.

“Firstly, we have always focused on the needs of accountants and bookkeepers. I had 10 years of experience building an accounting practice when we started the company. That really helped because I already had a deep understanding of the problems accountants and bookkeepers face.

“Secondly, we invested in building technology to help solve those problems right from the start. Thirdly, we partnered with Xero. The power of the Xero community and API has been huge for us,” he said.

Partnering for Success

“When we first integrated with Xero, we didn’t have a global mindset, and that was a mistake. It was really only Xero’s UK market we wanted to tap into when we connected to the Xero API. But then the phones started ringing from all over the world. Our global customer base took off, and soon it made sense to open a Sydney office.

“As well as putting us in front of a global community, it’s Xero’s pioneering open API that has been the biggest game-changer – for us and many other businesses around the world. Being able to connect accounting software, with anything from bank feeds to points of sale software or timesheets is hugely empowering for small businesses and something Xero should be very proud of,” Michael said.

Keep your eye out for exciting announcements coming up from Receipt Bank at Xerocon this year. For more information on how Xero and Receipt Bank work together to help small transform productivity, head to Receipt Bank’s page on our app marketplace.

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