Skip to main content

Deck.blue brings a TweetDeck experience to Bluesky users

With over 3 million users and plans to open up more broadly in the months ahead, Bluesky is still establishing itself as an alternative to Twitter/X. However, that hasn’t stopped the developer community from embracing the project and building tools to meet the needs of those fleeing the now Elon Musk-owned social network, formerly known […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. from TechCrunch https://ift.tt/TBbEAPF
Post a Comment

Pennylane wants to overhaul the accounting tech stack in France

French startup Pennylane has raised a $57 million Series B round (€50 million) from existing investors, such as Sequoia Capital, Global Founders Capital and Partech. The startup wants to replace legacy accounting solutions in France — and in Europe.

If you’re an accountant, you might be familiar with tools like Cegid and Sage. Essentially, Pennylane wants to overhaul these tools and modernize the tech stack of accounting firms.

Pennylane connects directly with third-party services that hold valuable information. For instance, you can get banking statements in the Pennylane interface, import receipts from Dropbox and get billing information from Stripe.

And because it’s an online platform, accounting firms can use Pennylane collaboratively. Clients can also access the platform to centralize receipts, create invoices and automate some tasks. Instead of sending information back and forth with spreadsheets and photo attachments, both clients and accounting firms can interact directly on the platform.

Right now, there are 300 accounting firms that are using Pennylane. Some of them have started using the product with a few clients, others have completely switched to the new tool. Interestingly, Pennylane clients want to use the platform more and more, which means that they bring new clients to the platform.

“Nine months ago, 90% of our clients reached out to us directly and 10% of them became clients through accounting firms. Nine months later, that trend has changed. 81% of our clients come from accounting firms,” co-founder and CEO Arthur Waller told me.

While the startup didn’t want to share revenue numbers, Waller told me that the startup has been growing by 20% month over month since this summer. Since 2020, Pennylane has raised $96 million.

If you take a step back, Pennylane has a significant market opportunity ahead. In the U.K., the U.S. and other more mature markets, companies have been using QuickBooks, Xero and other software-as-a-service solutions. But accounting is a fragmented industry with each country using their own software solution. In some countries, such as France, there’s no definitive SaaS solution for accounting.

“In France, there are roughly 12,000 accounting firms. Today we work with 300,” Waller said. “Our goal is that in 4 or 5 years we work with 1.5 million small and medium companies,” he added.

There are some geographic expansion opportunities ahead, but also some product opportunities. Pennylane could become the central hub for everything related to financial management.

For instance, the company has started beta-testing corporate cards with Swan to facilitate payments. You could imagine a sort of revenue-sharing deal with accounting firms for the interchange fees generated by those corporate cards. With today’s fundraising, the company thinks it can iterate on its product as there are still a lot of things to do just for the French market.

The company plans to reach 500 employees by the end of the year. As Pennylane thinks tech and product remain the most important areas for the startup, most hires will be in these categories. Essentially, Pennylanes wants to create a product that is a no-brainer for new accountants getting started.



from TechCrunch https://ift.tt/Crft85uz2
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

6 VCs explain why embedded insurance isn’t the only hot opportunity in insurtech

If you think embedded insurance is the only hot thing in insurtech these days, we’ve got a surprise in store for you: While it’s true that startups that help sell insurance together with other products and services are enjoying tailwinds, there are plenty of other opportunities in the space, several investors told TechCrunch+. You see, insurtech startups often need to take into account the myriad rules and regulations in place when they seek to innovate and embed insurance into products, which might make it difficult to pull it off. And given the current emphasis on achieving cost efficiency to extend runways in the broader startup ecosystem, it appears investors are open to insurtech startups that can build a sustainable business model, regardless of it including embedded insurance. “Insurtech startups that do not offer embedded insurance, and rather provide other innovative solutions will still attract VC funding this year, especially if they can show cost-efficient and sustainabl...
Post a Comment
Read more

Apple tvOS 16.4 update gives light-sensitive users a ‘Dim Flashing Lights’ feature

Apple released the tvOS 16.4 update to the public yesterday, bringing various improvements to the system, including a new “Dim Flashing Light” feature. The new accessibility option can detect flashes of light or strobe effects and then automatically dim the display of a video. The “Dim Flashing Light” feature is notable a s it will likely benefit Apple TV users with light sensitivity or, possibly, users with epileptic seizures. According to the Epilepsy Foundation , 2.7 million Americans have epilepsy, and approximately 3-5% of them are photosensitive. Photosensitive epilepsy is when seizures are triggered by flashing lights, patterns or color changes. Flashing lights can also cause headaches and migraines. The tvOS update is available for the Apple TV 4K and Apple TV HD. It can be installed manually by going to “Settings,” “System” and then “Software Update.” If your Apple TV is set to update automatically, then it should be downloaded already. The other updates weren’t as signi...
Post a Comment
Read more

Ivella is the latest fintech focused on couples banking, with a twist

Money can make people moody. There are layers of privilege, or lack thereof, that can make even the simplest conversation about bills feel like baggage to deal with. Translate that discomfort to relationships and it can feel like an awkward — and fragmented — dance on who pays which bill when (and how). Ivella , a Santa Monica-based startup, wants to build banking products for couples to take away some of these tensions. Led by CEO and co-founder Kahlil Lalji , the startup is launching with a split account product that just raised $3.5 million in funding from Anthemis, Financial Venture Studio and Soma Capital. Other investors include Y Combinator, DoNotPay CEO Joshua Browder and Gumroad CEO Sahil Lavingia. Lalji, who helped creators with digital content before jumping into the world of fintech, says that the startup was born out of his own frustration at the expectation that couples would just use Venmo unless they were married. The best solution, so far, has been joint accounts...
Post a Comment
Read more