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How much is mobile invoicing catching on? Well, mobile invoicing app Invoice2go has hit one million invoices per month

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Australian mobile invoicing app Invoice2go, one of the few Aussie apps being included on the Apple Watch, recently announced a new milestone highlighting the widespread adoption of mobile invoicing.

More than one million invoices are now created globally per month by Invoice2go customers, reinforcing the popular app as the go-to tool for small and microbusiness owners looking for a simple and cost-effective solution to stay organised and get paid faster.

“Every minute, more than 20 invoices are created by our customers around the world. This shows that small businesses everywhere are realising the power of handling critical tasks like invoicing in real-time,” said Invoice2go CEO Greg Waldorf.

“Invoicing is the first step to getting paid, and by sending an invoice on the spot, as soon as the job is done, businesses can take control of their cash flow,” he explained.

Nailing the coffin of the pen and paper invoice

Founded in 2002 by Chris Strode (pictured), a small business owner who was frustrated by the lack of simple invoicing solutions, Invoice2go started out as a small Aussie start-up but has now grown to be world’s widest reaching invoicing software.

The app has doubled its subscriber base in the last year, now trusted by more than 200,000 small and microbusiness owners across a whole load of industries—from electricians and accountants to creative freelancers and even dog walkers!

Mobile invoicing has clearly gained a great deal of traction with small business owners everywhere, but will it ever completely replace pen and paper invoicing, Anthill asked.

“Absolutely!” Chris answered. “By the time today’s kids grow up to run their own businesses, they will have spent the last ten years with a mobile device moulded to their hands. There’s no way they’ll be reaching for a pen and paper to do their invoicing.”

“I think the challenge for today, however, is convincing the luddites out there to try out new tools and new forms of technology. So many won’t give up the little time it takes to learn something new, even when it means they’d avert years of misery! But once you do, saving time and streamlining your day to day can become quite addictive.”

How exactly does Invoice2go help small businesses?

Chris highlighted that Invoice2go solves a challenge shared by every small business in the world, without the need for expensive, complicated software.

“The cost of starting a new business today is so much lower than it once was, and we’re proud to be a part of that,” he stated.

The app helps small businesses manage cash flow through easy-to-use invoicing, expense tracking and simple reporting tools and is packed with several features designed to keep business owners organized.

This includes simple charts and reports for business performance at a glance, Receipts2go expense tracking, Calendar2go time on the job tracking, Maps2go, a snapshot of where clients are based, Sign2go which allows clients to sign estimates and invoices on the spot, Scan2go, a barcode scanner and Statements2go, which allows you to create, print and send clients account summaries.

In addition to getting paid seven days faster on average, 93 per cent of Invoice2go customers reported time savings, resulting in more streamlined business operations. In Australia, eight out of 10 Invoice2go invoices are created between Monday and Friday, minimizing administration work on the weekends.

“The nature our business, and the fact that there are just two of us doing the work, means that we each deal with different clients, and face different issues every day,” said Ben Stuth, of Bill & Ben The Electrical Men, a father and son duo providing electrical services in Sydney and using Invoice2go.

“Having to go between jobs and the office all day to complete admin tasks is time consuming, but the requirement for paperwork is unavoidable. Using Invoice2go means that we can walk a client through a job, pull up the app on our phones and provide a quote on the spot.”

“Once the contract is confirmed, we can transfer the estimated cost straight into an invoice, ready to be updated and shared as soon as the job is done. The app saves us time, is easy to use and offers professional templates that our clients really appreciate.”

Flying the Aussie flag on the Apple Watch

As earlier mentioned, Invoice2Go is one of the few Australian apps being included on the Apple Watch.

“We were thrilled to be featured in Apple’s official Watch launch,” Chris told Anthill. “As an app developer, it’s the ultimate recognition that you’re one of a handful of world-class, highly innovative apps.”

“The Apple Watch as a platform made a lot of sense for us. Invoice2go has always been the fastest and easiest way to track time and send invoices, but the Apple Watch allowed us to create useful shortcuts for any business owner or freelancer who tracks time.”

He further commented that developing for the Apple Watch was a unique experience because it’s such a unique platform.

“It was important to create a lightweight experience, and to stay focused on the tasks that made most sense to do from the wrist. For example, using geo-fencing, the app prompts you with check-in, check-out time tracking when you enter and exit a job site, and one-tap invoicing.”

“We also wanted to keep notifications lightweight. The app notifies you of only the most critical information, which for any small business owner, includes when you get paid.”

More recently, the Invoice2go app for Apple Watch was featured at the Apple Worldwide Developer’s Conference (WWDC 2015) as an example of good design.

“Having watched WWDC my entire professional life, seeing our app highlighted up on the Apple stage, especially as one of the only Australian apps featured there, was definitely a milestone moment.”

Invoice2Go also raised $35 million in VC funding last year. Chris said they have used the funding to continue improving their product, and to build the right team to take them to the next level.

He revealed that the company has done an incredible amount of hiring over the past 12 months, creating a growth team, a user acquisition team, a data team, a marketing team, and doubling the size of their engineering team.

“We also opened an office in Palo Alto to give us access to the talent pool there. Meanwhile, our Sydney office has been key in attracting the best engineers,” he added.