INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Accounting is one of the cornerstones to building a business, but for most companies, getting it right is more of a necessity than it is one
of their core competencies
of its platform and growing its business.The funding, a Series D that brings the total raised by Tipalti to $146 million, is interesting in
part because of who is providing it
Led by Zeev Ventures, it also includes backing from previous investor Group 11, along with new backers 01 Advisors, Greenspring Associates
Chen Amit, CEO and co-founder of Tipalti, told me in an interview that the social media company signed up around the time that it was going
public, ramping up its revenue-generating functions (mainly advertising), and needed a strong accounts payable solution to pay suppliers and
delivering a flawless experience
Investing in Tipalti allows us to help bring the same benefits we experienced as operators to the thousands of companies that need this
The accounting department is not the first thing people usually think about when they consider an exciting tech startup
thoughts of generating revenue, especially when the startup is in high-growth mode
However, when the scale does tip over into making money (way earlier for some than others), it becomes a crucial area to get right.Tipalti
sits among a number of other startups that have emerged in recent years to help handle less-sexy, but very essential, back-office functions,
the kind that can cripple or even kill off a business if not handled well
Others in the group include the likes of AppZen, which has built AI-based expense auditing tools that it now wants to expand into other
finance-team functions; and Gusto, which helps manage payroll and benefits.There are also a number of companies looking to build better
tools for accounts payable automation, including the likes of AccessPay (which also covers accounts receivable functions), OneSource
that these target much larger enterprises
primarily to the midmarket, which is partly why it has been a big hit with startups that are growing fast but might not yet be at the point
of considering solutions built for much larger companies
The tools are able to read, process, pay and account for invoices using its automation technology, and the startup measures its
effectiveness in terms of how much human work it can take on.In fact, it describes a slightly frighteningly precise efficiency equivalent:
(The idea being that the remaining 1.96 of humans (!) left over after Tipalti has done its magic can work on other tasks and longer need to
of its customers are gig economy businesses, with a fair number working across different international markets
That makes for a very messy accounting operation
on how businesses account for revenues and pay out to people, with the rise in money laundering and using assets in nefarious ways
companies reduce their operational expenses and helping them to run things better
How that will play out in the longer term could indeed be great, or it could see even more people with too much time on their hands
But in the meanwhile, Tipalti has grown by leaps and bounds
first half of 2019.Tipalti is not disclosing its valuation with this round, but Amit said on the back of that growth it has tripled since it
