FreshBooks, a Toronto-based cloud accounting company aimed at helping small and medium businesses, announced raising a $80.75 million Series E led by Accomplice and $50 million in debt financing, according to a press release.
The company plans to use the funding to invest in markets adding regulations, improve its financial workflow products and continue differentiating itself within the marketplace. It also says it will use the investment for sales and marketing, research and development and additional strategic acquisitions.
“We’re going to use this capital to reinforce our competitive differentiators. This includes investing in markets that are becoming more regulated, helping Owners manage their finances through simplistic workflows, and prevailing as leaders in best-in-class support,” FreshBooks CEO Don Epperson stated in the release.
The funding round was led by existing investor Accomplice, with participation from J.P. Morgan, Gaingels, BMO and Mainulife, and increased the companies total funding raised to $205.9 million. That milestone is impressive, considering FreshBooks was bootstrapped for its first 10 years.
The funding, which included an additional $50 million in debt financing, gives the company unicorn status with a valuation now over $1 billion. Founded in 2003, the platform has helped over 30 million users in 160 countries, with software that is designed to be easy to use, with a customer service focus.
FreshBooks provides simplified and streamlined accounting software to small and medium businesses, digitizing businesses to meet local tax and invoice compliance regulations.
The cloud-based accounting platform includes tools for invoicing, expenses, payments, payroll and financial reporting. The company and its 500 employees in the US, Canada, Croatia, Mexico and Netherlands recently began serving the Latin American market, with an acquisition of Mexico-based e-invoicing company Facturama in September 2020.
Co-founder Mike McDerment created the company because of his experience billing clients for his former design agency, which he felt was complicated due to frustration with using Microsoft Word and Excel, according to TechCrunch.
In other recent fintech news, Canada sets an open banking target for 2023. Plaid also settled a $58 million lawsuit over consumer data sharing violations.